


The Line Between

by Faithxoxo



Category: Descendants (Disney Movies)
Genre: Descendants 2 AU, F/F, F/M, M/M, Multi, Sea Three, reverse au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-17
Updated: 2018-09-22
Packaged: 2019-01-18 10:51:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 60,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12386619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Faithxoxo/pseuds/Faithxoxo
Summary: Descendants AU. Instead of Ben bringing over the Core Four, he brings over the Sea Three. Uma, Harry and Gil are in Auradon for one reason and one reason only; to steal the wand and reign down evil. Except somewhere along the way, being evil takes a backseat to actually being together and happy. Uma should've known the road to happy endings was a bumpy one, and that the Isle wouldn't let them go that easily.





	1. The Sea Three

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! So this is a new story and since the idea hasn't been done since D2 came out (as far as I know) I thought I would write it. Okay, so this is basically an au where the sea three were chosen to go to Auradon instead of the core four. It always bothered me that Mal, Evie, Carlos and Jay got to escape the Isle but all of the other kids were basically left to rot in the dust. Thus this story was born! I love Uma, Harry and Gil more than I love breathing (really) and I hated that they didn't win in D2. I'm re-writing D1 but afterward I'll re-write D2, only if you guys want :) I know we all love the Sea three and their beautiful pirate crew, I love Huma and Garry and basically them in a poly ship is my fave. Leave a comment if you want telling me if you like it and if I should continue, thanks :)

* * *

 

"Harry!"

Uma let the tray she was carrying clatter on the table. The one-eyed pirate sitting in front of her glowered, and she shot the look right back. She'd told him not to order the dry rot, her conscious was clean—or would have been, if she had one.

"Hello to you, captain." Harry appeared out of thin air, bringing her left hand to his lips and kissing it.

She smacked his chest with her right hand. "Harry, if you don't let go of my hand—"

Quick as lightening, he pulled her in and pecked her on the cheek. Her mouth fell open. "Harry—"

In the blink of an eye he'd backed away. Smart of him, since last time he'd tried to kiss her on the cheek she'd stolen his hook and not given it back until he'd promised to cover two days' worth of her shifts at the Chip Shoppe.

"You're scaring away the customers," She said instead of reprimanding him. In Harry's mind, telling him not to do something meant 'do it over and over again.'

"Am not," He stuck out his bottom lip petulantly.

"Before you got here we had a full house," She gestured to all the empty tables. "I know you never learned how to count, but this is evident."

"You can't prove I got rid of 'em."

If she had to describe Harry's pout in one word, it'd be adorable, except adorable wasn't a word in her vocabulary, because no one on the Isle did adorable. She settled on irritatingly sexy, alluring in that way that made her want to punch him repeatedly in the face. Obviously, he knew he was attractive. He flaunted it like a hooker in a whorehouse.

'I need a new first mate.' Uma thought, though she knew not even wild horses could drag her away from Harry.

"Really?" She jutted her chin, "So that peg leg in the corner just conveniently hobbled out after you looked at him?"

"In my defense," Harry said. "My rugged charm has sent many men running for the hills."

She put her hands on her hips. Harry sighed. "Fine, I threatened to string him up from the mast."

"Another one?" Uma groaned, "No wonder the ship is falling apart, you keep mounting peoples' heads on your wall."

"That was only once."

"Twice," Uma corrected. "Not counting the time you used Medusa's son as a figurehead."

"That was a fun day," Harry grinned. She would not admit that his grin did things to her, she'd sooner go skipping through a field of tulips with Mal. "No more scaring customers." She threatened, "Or stringing people up from the mast, or dismembering them—"

Wow, he had disturbing hobbies.  
"Or forcing the crew to walk the plank." Uma poked him hard in the side, "Got it? Or else I'm banning you from the Shoppe." She added with a wicked smirk, "And no more hooking anybody."  
Harry rested his chin on the silver edge of his hook, soft blue eyes gleaming with eyeliner. He really has to cut down on the guyliner. Seriously.

The fact that it made him look even hotter had nothing to do with it at all, nope, nada, triple nada.

"I solemnly swear not to frighten away the patrons," He chuckled, hopping onto the counter. "Pirate's honor."

"There's no honor among liars," Uma started wiping down the tables.

"That's why you and I work, love."

Don't look at him, don't look at him. If she looked at him, she was sure she'd do something she'd regret insanely later. Something like kiss him, or tell him she found his psychotic ass handsome as all get out.

"Really?" Uma pointedly kept her gaze on the table. "I thought we worked because I'm the better leader, and you know how to sail a ship."

"One of the many reasons," Harry said flippantly. Just then, the bell above the door chimed.

"We're locking up in five," She called over her shoulder. Actually, she was supposed to be on the clock for another two hours, but what her mother didn't know wouldn't incur her wrath.

"Uma!" There was only one other person on the Isle besides Harry who could call her that and the rest of the crew called her captain.

"What, Gil?"  
In her periphery she spotted Gil plopping down next to Harry, sweaty and out of breath like he'd been running. Harry draped his legs across Gil's lap, leaning his head on the blonde's shoulder.

Uma turned to face him and frowned, "Have you been running?"

"Yeah," Gil said. "All the way from the docks. This fancy looking car pulled up a while ago and this guy came out, he was saying names." He glanced from Harry to Uma and then back again. "All three of us were on this list."

Uma was instantly on red alert. "What list?"

"I think it's like a field trip or something," Gil sounded puzzled, which really was his default setting.

"There are no field trips on the Isle," Uma pinched the bridge of her nose, trying to stay calm. "Did he say anything else?"

"That he was there to take us to Auradon," Gil said. "As a decree of the new king, whatever that means."

There was a dead zone as the implications set in.

"Hold the fuck up!" Uma shouted, ripping off her apron and tossing it to the floor. Harry grabbed Gil's arm. Uma shot him an unamused look, "Not that fuck-up." She said. Slowly, she began to pace.

Auradon. There had to be a catch, there had to be something.  
"My mother would have told me if something this big was happening." In fact, it was just dawning on her now, she hadn't seen her mother all week. It had been cause for celebration, now however, Uma knew that it'd been the precursor for something terrible.

"Did your dad say anything about this?" She aimed the question at the both of them.

"No," Harry's expression was pensive. "He's been having a time of it. Mistook me for Tic Toc and tried to skin me alive yesterday." 'Having a time of it' meant that his father was drowning himself in rum. Abruptly, Uma realized why Harry had been clinging to her like an octopus these past few days.

"My dad hasn't said a thing. But he usually doesn't talk to me, so…" Gil trailed off, looking at the decals on the walls. "What do you think this means?"

"I don't know." Uma said, and with that, she yelled for the last of the people loitering in the Shoppe to get out. "But I intend to find out."

"You might want to hurry," Gil said. His face lit up like he remembered something, "Mal and her gang were there too. I think I even saw Maleficent."

Maleficent? Oh, now she really had to find out what was going on. The self-proclaimed queen of the Isle never stepped out to mingle with the commoners, not unless there was something damn important happening. Like someone running through the streets naked, or someone dying.

She snapped at Gil, "You couldn't have led with that?"

Gil had the brains to look sheepish, "Sorry, Uma."

"You know, I'm starting to think 'Sorry, Uma' is my name, given how many times you say it to me."

She rushed out of the Shoppe and towards the docks, not having to check to see if Harry and Gil were following, she knew they were. Her boys, they'd follow her to the ends of the Earth. At first, she'd been more than a little unsettled by the devotion, now, she discovered knowing two people had her back was almost nice. Like one less weight off of her chest.

Gil hadn't been lying, Maleficent was there when they reached the docks. A long, sleek black car had pulled up right where the barrier ended and the ocean began. Six built men in black suits were standing guard, one of them was arguing with the Mistress of evil herself.

Except it wasn't just Maleficent and Mal's ragtag bunch of idiots, the whole Isle was there.

Her mother was there.

So was Gaston, and Gil's beef for brains brothers. Uma would love nothing more than to throw the lot of them into the water and watch them drown for all the crap they'd put Gil through.

Harriet and CJ were there, eyes scanning the crowd, probably for their brother. Harry's father was there too, freshly sobered, looking like grade A dog shit, and livid with more rage than Uma had ever seen him.

The second she took a step, everyone's attention focused on her.

Well, this was going to be interesting.

* * *

Harry had been having a good day.

He'd terrified some goblins, threatened some people in the marketplace, and thrown two incompetent crew members overboard. Overall, he'd been having a good day.  
Why could it not last? This was the Isle of the lost, the only thing that lasted were his headaches.

"Big brother!" Here came one now.

CJ skipped over to him, flinging an arm around his waist. It was a nice distraction from the all the islanders openly gawking at him. Harry was used to turning heads, but this was a little excessive.

He drew himself to his full height, "Little sister." He smirked at her in that way that was drove women mad. Harry had two settings when it came to anyone outside Uma and Gil.

He either grinned crazily, because deep down he knew he was nothing short of insane. Or he smirked devilishly, with all the swagger he used to cover up everything he didn't want others seeing. He didn't smile, there were only two people on the whole Isle who saw him smile. It made him feel like his skin was too tight, twisted and unnatural, like it wasn't his.

Behind CJ, he saw Harriet creep up. She had a half-scowl on her face, which was better than her permanently etched on full-scowl, so she must've been in a good mood. Which meant their father was in a good mood.

Only, he looked about ready to have an aneurysm. So what. The. Hell.

"Mind telling me what's goin' on?" Harry asked, knowing Uma was listening in and shifting closer to her so she could hear.

"You're off on an adventure!" CJ exclaimed, clapping wildly. "You lucky asshole, you're finally getting off this rock."

"Wonderful, CJ, but how exactly?"

"You've been invited by soon to be King screwball goody-two-shoes the second," Harriet dug her nails into her hand, Harry saw the half-crescent shapes they left on her palm. "To go to school in Auradon. As a part of what I'm assuming is some shitty, misguided attempt to reform the villains on the Isle to assuage his own guilt about sticking us here."

"What a dick," Harry said.

"Total dick," CJ agreed. She patted him on the back, "But his dickishness aside, this is your chance! Our chance to get off this bloody lump of sin forever!"

"Lump of sin?" Harriet stared at CJ.

"Hush," The blonde told her. "Not all of them can be winners."

"Who else is going?" Uma cut in before Harry could respond.

"Just you three," Harriet said. "Maleficent's beyond pissed, she thinks it should be her daughter going. She and your mother have been having the Isle's biggest staring contest."

"Crap," Uma cursed, moving towards where Ursula was. Harry made to follow her, but CJ stopped him. He glanced at Gil and cocked his head, the blonde was slow on the uptake, but eventually he understood and went to stand by Uma's side as she watched the heated argument between her mother and Maleficent.

"Dad wants to talk to you," CJ's eyes flicked to their father. "He's raging."

"Really," Harry deadpanned. "And here I thought he was a ray of sunshine."

"Don't worry, he's not angry-angry."

That definitely made no sense whatsoever.

"He's always angry-angry," Harry said, feeling something close to dread curl in his gut. "Something I did?"

"You always do something," Harriet gave him a shove to get him moving. "Not your fault this time."

Well, that ought to make the conversation the tiniest bit more pleasant. Over by Harriet, CJ was giving him a thumbs-up.

He stuck up his middle finger in reply. She stuck out her tongue.

What a mature lot they all were.

"Father—" Harry winced as sharp metal dug into his shoulder. He was wearing his sleeveless red coat today, damn.

"Harry, son." Captain Hook slung an arm around Harry's shoulders, too tight to be anything resembling affection. "This is it. This is our ticket to Neverland."

Oh, joy.

"What do you want me to do?" Harry asked.

"The Sea Witch and I have come up with a plan," His father's gaze was mad, terrifying, but what scared him most of all was how similar it was to his. "You, her daughter and the son of that lumbering oaf Gaston," His father rolled his eyes at that. "Will ingratiate yourselves in Auradon, make friends, wrap the king around your finger. And then," His father's grip grew so painful Harry barely held back a flinch. Showing weakness of any kind in front of his father was a sure-fire way to get a beating. "You'll nick the wand, destroy the barrier, and the kingdom will be ours. Every kingdom will be ours. They'll bow to us. First, Auradon. Then—"

Harry waited for it.

"Neverland! I'll hunt down Peter Pan and his lost boys until their insides decorate the decks of the Jolly Roger. How does that sound, son?"

Completely and totally insane.

"Like a dream come true," He said instead.

"Aye!"

The death-lock on his shoulders was starting to rob him of air, suddenly, it became so strangling and constricting black spots dotted his vision.

"Now, Harry." His father's breath was hot in his ear, hook trailing Harry's neck. "You either come back with the wand, or you don't come back at all." Harry swallowed, forcing as much bravado into his voice as he could. "I won't fail. I swear it."

"You better not." He was a few seconds away from passing out now, he was sure of it, the feeling of being crushed was overwhelming. "You know what I do to failures." The hook moved down to Harry left hand, where he was clutching his own hook like a lifeline. His father made the motion of slitting his wrist, "I did not raise a failure."

When did you raise me? He wanted to ask, but didn't.

"I don't want to be a failure," And wasn't that the whole truth of it, the whole, ugly truth.

Harry could walk around like he owned the Isle, he could strut and swagger and do whatever the hell he wanted, but underneath it all, he was just a lost boy himself. A lost boy who wanted nothing more than something his father had never given him and probably never would.

"Remember what I taught you and you won't be." His father released him and stepped away. "I have more to discuss with Ursula. Apparently, Maleficent is trying to encroach on our arrangement. Like she has any right."

His father vanished and Harry didn't really feel like being alone, so he headed back to where his sisters' had been watching the conversation while trying to pretend to have not been watching.

"Hey, what'd dad say?" CJ asked.

"What, you didn't hear him while you were eavesdropping?" Harry replied.

"Someone's not getting laid enough."

"I'm getting laid plenty, thank you very much."

"Shut up, both of you." Harriet scolded. Her gaze was cold, calculating, trained on Harry. Had he been anyone else, he would have been uncomfortable. "I heard something about a wand," Harriet spoke finally. "He wants you to bibidy bobitty boo us all off the Isle."

"That's the plan," Harry raked a hand through his hair, adjusting his hat.

"Sounds like a good one," CJ said eagerly. "I'm in."

"You can't come, squirt." She had always hated it when Harry called her that, and her glare was both menacing and terrifying. Unless you were him. He'd lived with CJ his whole life.

"I'll be cheering you on from here," His sister pinched his arm, leaving an angry red mark.

He winced, "I suppose every good team needs a cheer squad, right?"

"Right is right," CJ linked arms with Harriet. "We'll be your own personal cheering section." Harriet batted her arm away, "I cheer for no one."

CJ clicked her tongue disapprovingly, "We noticed. You really need to liven up, sis."

"Vanish off the face of the Isle and I will."

"Please, you know you love me. Your life would be boring—"

"When am I leaving?" Harry interrupted their bickering. CJ and Harriet were like an old married couple, when they got into it—he'd never get a word in if he waited.

"Now." Harriet said, like Harry should know this. He didn't, and the shock was so great he lost his balance and stumbled sideways. CJ steadied him, "Easy, big bro." She frowned at him, "You didn't know?"

He managed to shake his head, the wires in his brain were short-circuiting. He imagined this was what feeling seasick was like, having been raised to sail, he'd never felt it himself. It was not pleasant, at all.

This was the second time today he thought he was going to pass out. 'Enough,' He told himself. Hold onto your dignity, for Gods' sakes. Or whatever's left of it.

CJ's frown deepened, hands moving to pat his face. He must've been quite a sight, pale and shaking and probably looking too pathetic to function. But Gods' he was, he wasn't functioning. At all.

"Dad didn't tell you?"

"If he did do you think I'd be this much of a mess?" Harry snapped at her.

"Testy. Calm down, just…improvise." CJ gave a half-shrug, seemingly unfazed. Harry was very fazed, on the verge of a panic attack, and she was telling him to improvise?

"Sure. I'll dance a jig for them and they'll hand over the wand like that."

"I was thinking more like a lapdance, but hey, you do what you're comfortable with."

"CJ..." Harry had the sudden urge to hook himself, maybe he'd bleed out and wouldn't have to go to Auradon. Not today, at least. Another day, after his father had given him a step-by-step flowchart breakdown of dos and don'ts, that'd be great.

But sigh, when had any higher powers ever listened to his pleas?

Very aware he was talking to himself, Harry dug his hook into his leg to keep himself grounded. "This won't work."

"Not with that attitude," His sister shot back.

"Harry," Harriet cut in. "You and Uma have been planning how to get off this rock for years. So has everyone else, no one wants you three to screw this up."

"I hate to break it to you, but none of those plans ever really panned out." Harry told her, feeling something akin to nervousness and wanting to banish the emotion immediately. He was Harry fucking Hook for fuck's sakes.

He had this.

He glanced at all the people amassed around the limo. Looked at CJ's expectant face, at Harriet's determined one.

He did not have this. Not in the slightest. He was going to fail, he was going to fail massively.

"Most of the scheming and coming up with new strategies was more for her, really."  
Uma had always been the one desperate to get off the Isle, Harry only did it for her. The biggest defining factor, the moment that he'd known he was truly insane, was when he'd realized he liked the Isle. He saw it as home, while Uma saw it as a prison. Everyone else saw it that way too, which was just more proof that Harry had a screw loose somewhere.  
Nonetheless, Uma wanted off and Harry would always do what she wanted. He just never thought their chance would come like this, handed to them on a silver platter when they weren't expecting it.

Harry was, quite frankly, completely and utterly fucking unprepared.

Which, oh well.

"Just…use your brain!" Harriet hissed, fingers massaging her temples, and Harry guessed it'd been a pretty stressful and shitty morning for her too. She put up with their father's crap more than he and CJ, this must not be fun for her at all. And if Harry did leave and go to Auradon, she'd have to deal with twice as much.  
He was normally not used to feeling guilty, or anything besides mania and rage, but looking at Harriet now, he felt bad.

It was dreadful.

"Alright, yeesh." He said, carding a hand through his hair and smoothing out the stray bits. He adjusted his jacket, "I'll pack a bag and get back as soon as I can."

"Thank you," Harriet heaved a sigh like she was able to breathe again. "Dad will go with you to the 'Revenge' to get what you need. Take the minimum, make it quick."

"Aye aye," He joked, just to lighten the mood. It got a laugh out of CJ, at least.

He searched the sea of islanders for his father, spotting him talking in a circle with Ursula, Gaston and Maleficent. Behind the Mistress of evil, Jafar, Evil Queen and Cruella de Vil were listening in to the conversation. A little bit more to the left, Uma and Gil were standing huddled together. Harry looked from his father to them, and went to them first.

"I assume," He drew out the words slowly. "That you know about the plan."

"The one our parents have been hiding from us? Yeah," Uma was practically vibrating with anger. "My mother got the scroll a week ago and she's been plotting everything without me. Our parents are calling all the shots. They're moving us around, like—" Her voice shook, terrifying in its intensity. "Like dolls."

"Captain." Harry knew when she was close to falling off the edge, and he'd made it a point to always pull her back. Only one of them had to be mad. "This is the chance you've been waiting for. You can't waste it."

"We've," Uma corrected him, her expression fading from rage to confusion. "The chance we've been waiting for. We're all stuck going. Going along with whatever bullshit they keep feeding us."

And the anger was back, except there was something fiercer about it now, more deafening. Harry had the sudden urge to bow, she was magnificent, all dark power and raw fury and something ice-cold that warned others she was the strongest there was and not to touch her. Not to even get close. It turned him on. He was half-obsessed with her at this point, if not wholly obsessed. His beautiful sea Goddess, he was sure she'd make Triton quiver, if he saw her now.

"So what do you want to do?" Harry asked.

"We get the wand."

Either Harry was crazier than he thought, or Uma's eyes flashed. Neon and turquoise and wicked. It was exquisite, she was exquisite.

Her lips curled into a sneer, "And we rule Auradon. Just us." She wrapped an arm around both of them, pulling them in until their foreheads all touched. "We leave our parents here. Show them we're better than they were. Show them that we can be kings—"

It was in that moment, that Harry decided he wanted to spend the rest of his days with her. Following her. He couldn't think of a better end.

"And they will be nothing." She studied the two of them. "You in?"

Like she even had to ask.

Harry pressed a hard kiss to her cheek, and grinned. "We ride with the tide." Gil did the same thing, minus the kiss, because while Gil may be Harry's second favorite person on the Isle, no one kissed Uma. No. One.

"We ride with the tide." The blonde smiled, then dimmed a little. "What about everyone else on the Isle?"

"They'll still be stuck here," Uma said simply. "Trapped by the barrier, forced to watch us as we rule the world."

That sounded like a dream come true, better than Neverland, better than immortality.  
Gil still looked worried, and that was when it clicked. Harry brought his hook up to Gil's face and traced his jaw lovingly. He made sure to be gentle, "They won't be able to get to you."

He tilted his head to the alley where Gaston Jr. and Third were lurking. The need to beat them senseless—until they kicked and screamed and swore as they choked on their own blood to never lay a hand on Gil again—was overpowering. But Harry powered through it, mostly because Uma's hand was squeezing his shoulder.

"They'll be left here to rot until they die. And you'll have a throne." Harry let his hook fall back to his side. "That I promise you."

Gil's whole body sagged, all of the tension gone. When he smiled, it was relieved, and it reached his eyes. "Thank you." He sent Harry a funny look, "What about your sisters?"  
For someone who wasn't the brightest, Gil was picking up on a lot of things.

Harry glanced at Uma, "Captain?"

In the silence that followed, Harry was so tense he almost began ripping his hair out. Except he liked his hair, it was really nice hair, and Uma played with it a lot, meaning more touches. Meaning no, he was not going to start yanking it out.

"I guess," She said, and Harry could have kissed her. On the lips, but he had a feeling that wouldn't have gone over well. "As long as they know who's in charge. And only after we take over Auradon."

"Done. Perfect." He shot her a look that said 'I worship you'.

She smirked and shot him a look that said 'I know'.

"Harry!"

His father's voice was worse than a tub of ice water in the face. Trust the old codfish to ruin the moment.

"Come now, we'll venture to the ship to gather your things and return straight away." His father turned and left without even waiting to see if he was following.

"Go," Uma said. "Pack your bags and come right back. We're blowing this popsicle stand, boys." She squeezed Harry's shoulder one last time before letting go, he missed the contact as soon as it was lost.

Jogging to catch up with his father, he blew Uma a kiss before disappearing. Looking out across the water at Auradon, a sparkling pillar of everything goodie-goodie and disgusting, Harry thought he'd feel joy at finally getting off the Isle.

He felt no joy. Instead, it felt like he was losing something.


	2. To Auradon and Beyond

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Uma, Harry and Gil pack their bags and say goodbye to the Isle. They get to Auradon, it's easier for some than others.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OMG guys thank you so much for all the nice comments, I'm honestly really flattered. Reading your comments makes my day, so please leave more for this chapter telling me what you think and if I should go on (I'm getting the idea some of you want me to :) You guys validate my existence, you really do. This chapter's pretty long, just because I wanted to get the sea three of the Isle so the adventure could kick off. Something you should know about me; I rarely write short chapters, in fact, I usually write really long ones so be warned ;) On with the story! I love you all. <3

* * *

It was as he was packing that Gil realized he didn’t own a lot of things.

And most of what he owned were things he’d stolen from the barges that came and dropped off shipments at the docks, or things Harry and Uma had given him.

He had a small, shredded velvet tag that read ‘second mate’ that he treasured and never took off. Harry had given it to him a few months after he’d joined the crew.

Somehow, it’d become the three of them, and Gil would never know why he’d been so lucky to have found friends such as these.

Or partners in crime. Or crew mates. On the Isle the word ‘friends’ was a dirty word. People didn’t have friends, they had minions. Except his relationship with Uma and Harry was way too equal to ever be considered that.

Then again, it was possible Gil was misinterpreting everything. He did it enough times. Sometimes things just got all jumbled in his brain.

People thought he was stupid, he let them believe it, sometimes he believed it too. They saw him as the muscle, just a spare arm or backup in a fight. Never the captain, never the first mate. So he never let them see the wheels that turned in his head, never let them crack the surface.

Harry and Uma were the exceptions, they always were. Uma had given him a purpose, a place, people that didn’t want him gone. She’d given him a room to call his own and a sword that was his and someone to worship. He worshipped her, probably not as much as Harry though.

Harry had given him a title. Had given him time and patience—except when he made one too many Shrimpy comments, because Harry let Gil get away with almost everything, everything but insulting Uma. Then again, Gil hated himself whenever he made the mistake of insulting her too, there was just so much in his brain that sometimes he couldn’t filter all of it, and words just came out of his mouth before he could stop them.

Uma let him see her without the captain mask on. It made her—in his opinion—a thousand times stronger than she already was. And she was already the strongest person he knew.

Harry let Gil see the cracks, the fractures in the larger than life persona he carved out for himself. Gil saw the mania, the raw intensity, the madness. Harry tried to make it all he is, Gil was one of the two people who knew there was more.

He didn’t want to put a word to what he felt about them. He just pretended he didn’t feel it at all.

He’d be the muscle if they wanted him to, would follow them off a cliff for some bizarre reason he didn’t want to name.

Gil threw his things in a bag, and his clothes in two trunks. They had his initials etched into the side of them.

He donned the tag proudly. Second mate of the ‘Lost Revenge’.

It made him feel important. They made him feel important.

He heard creaking on the floorboards above him and hauled all his stuff outside into the tiny hallway. Harry had arrived before him, his father was up on the main deck. Gil only had to think about it for a minute before he was lugging his luggage up the small staircase towards the first mate’s cabin.

He, Harry and Uma had separate cabins from the rest of the crew. Uma’s being the largest, obviously.

When Gil got to Harry’s door, there were already three trunks parked in the threshold, and the pirate was still riffling through his closet.

“How much stuff do you have?” Gil asked, awe struck. He’d been in Harry’s room before, but he’d never seen his closet. It was filled with clothes, most of them—if not all of them, ripped. An assortment of long, leather jackets. Leather pants and tight shirts. A row of boots lined the floor, also leather.

It was all red and black. It was undoubtedly fabulous. That was what Harry called his sense of style.

“Enough to last me about two weeks,” He said, browsing through his hat collection. He settled on stuffing all of them into a torn, shredded rucksack. “After that we’ll have to share.”

“No problem,” Gil said. He liked the idea of Harry wearing his clothes, for reasons that he didn’t know and didn’t want to know. “Are you sure you need to bring all that? Everything?”

“Absolutely,” Harry sounded appalled. “A man needs variety. I can’t go about world domination looking like a common peasant, can I?”

“I guess not,” Gil said. He didn’t say that Harry could wear a potato sack and still be the most attractive guy on the Isle. Probably in Auradon, too.

“Besides, I can’t leave any of my things here.” He added in a quieter voice, “We’re never coming back. I can’t abandon my beautiful clothes to this wretched landfill.” He stroked the sleeve of one of his many jackets lovingly.

“Especially my coats. Can’t leave the coats. It’s barbaric.” His eyes went comically wide, the blue in them intensifying.

“They’re too sexy. Really Gil, this Isle could go up in sexy, sexy flames.”

“I don’t doubt that,” Gil said. He went over to help Harry pack. “It’ll go faster if there’s two of us.”

“Basic math,” Harry drawled. He handed Gil a bag and his hats. “Where’s Uma?”

“She left before me, I don’t know where she went.” He remembered waving at her as her mother dragged her off. “I think she was going back to the Fish and Chips, her mom was with her.”

“Blasted sea witch,” Harry muttered. He passed Gil another bag and his boots. “What do you reckon she wanted with her?”

“Maybe some mother-daughter bonding time?” Gil guessed. He stared down dubiously at the new bag. “Who has this many bags? Do you just keep them lying around?”

“Yes. Sometimes I stick them on my head and run around the Isle flapping my arms and shrieking to scare the children.”

“That’s an interesting hobby,” Gil noted. He wasn’t so good at picking up on when Harry was being sarcastic. He was sarcastic almost ninety percent of the time, the other ten percent he spent sleeping.

Or maybe it was eighty-twenty, Gil wasn’t the best with numbers. Or anything involving higher brain functions, at least that’s what his brothers said.

“So…our captain?”

“Right,” Gil chided himself for forgetting. “Ursula was dragging her. Uma looked like she really didn’t want to be there.”

“When does Uma ever want to be around her vile shrew of a mother?”

“Never?” Gil tried, adding. “I mean, maybe it was about her shifts at the Chip Shoppe or something?”

“Let the old hag do her own dirty work.” Harry stuffed the bags with his hats and boots into a fourth trunk. He set it on the ground next to the others lovingly. Gil was starting to get a little disturbed.

“Do you want some private time with your clothes?”

“Its fine,” Harry waved a hand, seemingly unbothered. “I got some this morning.”

He whirled in a circle, something he did when he was thinking hard. “Maybe she was giving her something for the trip? Something magical? You mean to tell me the shriveled octopus has tentacles, yet can’t clean her own dishes? It’s pitiable.” Harry scoffed, “Not to mention disastrous for Uma’s skin.” He said this like it was of critical importance.

Gil wondered how many inventive insults Harry had brainstormed for Ursula, and when he’d had time to come up with them.

His wondering was interrupted by a loud yell and a pounding on the ship’s upper deck.

“Harry!” Captain Hook hollered, “Are you quite finished? This is taking far too bloody long!”

“Coming!” Harry shouted back. “Damn codfish.” He grumbled under his breath.

His closet was almost empty, he threw the remaining clothing into a ruined, travel-sized suitcase before leaving it at the door and dashing wildly up the stairs.

Gil stood in the bare room, and felt a little sad.

He immediately perked up when he remembered that they’d have even bigger rooms when they got to Auradon and took over. Maybe he’d even get a castle, like the one his father had invaded in his angry quest to kill the beast and win over a woman who’d clearly despised him.

Gil would miss the Isle a little. Only a tiny bit, because it was where he’d grown up. But he wouldn’t miss his father, and he definitely wouldn’t miss his brothers.

He was happy to be leaving the abusive jerks behind. Let them rot here for all he cared.

He had the only two people he needed.

Hoisting his and Harry’s bags on his shoulders, he used one arm to balance them and the other to haul his two trunks all the way up to the main deck, where Hook was talking animatedly to Harry and Harry was nodding enthusiastically.

Gil let them talk. He dropped the stuff he was carrying and went back below deck to grab Harry’s trunks. It took another three trips to get all of the crates up the stairs and five more minutes of hard labour to drag them over to the gang plank so they were ready to leave.

Gil wiped sweat from his brow. Thank the Gods’ it was always cold and windy on the Isle, and that he worked hard to stay buff.

All the noise he’d made lugging the trunks across the floor had caught Hook’s attention. The pirate captain’s eyes narrowed.

“Gaston the Fourth, come here.”

Gil felt something wither in him at the sound of his real name, the only comfort he had was that Harry’s jaw was clenched, so it wasn’t only upsetting him.

“Gil,” He introduced himself, though he’d already introduced himself to Harry’s father many times.

“Are you two ready to ship out?” They both nodded. Hook focused on his son. “Good. Where is the supposed captain of your little trio?” His gaze moved to Gil. “Where is Ursula’s waif?”

It was fortunate he’d looked away from Harry, or else Hook wouldn’t have missed the murderous expression that crossed his face. Or the way Harry’s fists were clenching and unclenching. Or the way he gritted his teeth and the vein in his neck was popping out.

Had Harry said something, Gil would have too. But Harry stayed silent, so Gil followed his lead.

“She should be here soon,” Gil answered since Harry was too busy having an internal rage fit. “She was with Ursula last I saw her. Probably going over some last minute details of the plan.”

“She had better hurry,” Hook said impatiently. “Conquest and adventure waits for no man. If she does not show up soon, you will leave without her.”

Well, this was a delightful exchange. Hook, his son who looked ready to murder him, and Gil who was ready to help hide the body.

Luckily, Uma strolled up the gang plank then.

“Captain!” Gil crowed, more than eager to get away from the tense stare-off between Harry and the side of his father’s face.

“Gil!” Uma echoed, mimicking him. She glanced at all the luggage blocking the gang plank. “How much stuff are you two idiots bringing?”

“Well—” Gil started.

Uma held up a finger, “Let me guess. Most of it is his.” She pointed at Harry.

The son of Hook swaggered up to her, forgetting all of his earlier outrage. “I have to look presentable for our take over.”

“You have more bags than I do.” Uma said.

“Of course I do, you haven’t packed yours yet. Speaking of,” He clapped his hands. “Chop, chop. Or else you’ll be stuck ruling Auradon naked. Not,” He added hastily, a wicked smirk highlighting his face. “That I would mind.”

“Pig,” Uma huffed.

She sauntered across the deck to her cabin, but there was something slow and hesitant in her step, as if she was trying to waste time by walking slowly. Uma never did anything hesitantly, she always knew exactly what she was doing. She breathed confidence and fierce intelligence and everything Gil admired about her.

It made him wonder what Ursula had said to her.

“But a cute pig, right?” Harry called to her, ignorant.

“Nope. A fat, ugly, dirty, covered-in-his-own-feces pig.” Uma shouted over her shoulder, and despite his worries, Gil had to snicker. “With a disgusting perverted mind, an ego too big for his head, and really bad breath.”

Harry frowned, breathing on his hand and sniffing it. His frown deepened, “What that a jab at my breath?”

Uma had closed her cabin door.

“I do not have bad breath!” Harry turned to Gil, “Do I?”

Gil let him breathe on him. He shook his head. Sea salt, the outdoors, the scent of the ocean and pine. His breath was also faintly minty. All Harry. Gil adored everything about him.

“Smells fine to me.” He said.

“For the love of the Gods!” Hook bellowed, “Would the three of you stop acting like immature buffoons and strap on your sea legs? This is a serious matter! I won’t have failure because you are all incompetent _children_ who can’t do a mere thing like take a plan seriously!”

He suddenly advanced on them, hook getting dangerously close to Harry’s neck. “If you muck this up,” He hissed. “Don’t bother ever showing your faces again. Death would be a kinder fate. Understood?”

“Yes, father.” Harry said, and Gil had never seen him so quiet.

Hook whipped to look at him. “Is that understood?” He repeated.

“Wha—me? Oh, yeah. _Yes_.” Gil sputtered, feeling like an imbecile and probably coming off as one too.

“Good.” Hook spun on his heel and stalked away. After a minute of stunned silence Harry leaned in to whisper in his ear.

“We are getting that wand.” He growled. “And proving him wrong. We’ll prove them all wrong. We’ll make them pay.”

 _I hope_. Gil thought. _I really hope_. And maybe it was a good thing they were going to Auradon.

Hope had no place on the Isle of the Lost.

* * *

 

Harry and Gil waited until Uma finished packing before bringing all of their stuff to where the limo was parked. It took seven trips back and forth. The six men in suits’ looked at them incredulously.

“What?” Harry challenged them. “Have you never seen a well-equipped pirate before?”

The one holding a clipboard—Harry assumed he was in charge—made a vaguely pissed off noise.

“Hop to it,” Harry taunted him. “And do be gentle, it’s all precious cargo.”

He turned and sought out Gil and Uma in the sea of faces, there were even more people milling around to see them off, if that was possible. He found his father standing with Gaston at the edge of crowd. Ursula was hanging back, talking with Maleficent.

He didn’t spot Gil or Uma, but he spotted CJ and Harriet. They were standing apart from his father, waving at him energetically. Well, CJ was waving, Harriet was frowning like a dark storm cloud.

He started to make his way over to them when he caught sight of pointed glasses and feathery pigtails. A paint splattered apron.

“Dizzy!” He grinned, touching her elbow softly.

Dizzy Tremaine smiled brilliantly, carefree and without abandon. In the way that only the really young could. Harry had always done his best to protect the beautiful innocence she possessed. There was a light in her eyes no one else on Isle had, he’d be damned to see it go out.

“Harry!” She threw her arms around him.

“Oof,” He grunted. He made sure no one was watching before returning the hug loosely. “How are ya, young one?”

“Good. Granny’s been making me sweep more, but now I get to start doing peoples’ hair! It’s great! You know Evie? I’m the one who came up with tiny braids. I’m gonna miss doing your hair, though.”

Harry chuckled, “I’m going to miss it too. No one will ever be as capable.”

She beamed, “I’m so jealous that you get to go to Auradon! You know it’s always—”

“Been your dream,” Harry ignored the guilt that rose up in him. “I know. You deserve it much more than I do.”

“Well when you get the wand and lower the barrier, I’ll get my chance.” She squealed excitedly, and the guilt that he’d shoved down came roaring back full force. Intense like a tidal wave, he couldn’t take it. Not that he’d ever admit that.

He couldn’t leave her here. Couldn’t live out his days like a king ruling Auradon and never look back.

He made the split-second decision.

“Say, Dizzy, if things don’t work out—” He struggled to find a way to phrase it in a non-incriminating way, so she wouldn’t get suspicious. “And we can’t lower the barrier. I’ll come back for you.” He laid a hand flatly on his chest, over his heart. A pirate’s oath. “I swear it.”

Her eyes shimmered like she was going to cry. “Really? Thank you!” She pulled him into another hug, fiercer than the first one.

If anyone asked him later, he’d deny holding her tighter.

“Whatever happens,” She said, looking up at him. “Promise me we’ll still paint each other’s nails like before?”

Harry gave a full-fledged laugh, thinking about how they’d met. He’d been doing his rounds, collecting money from the people Uma had instructed him to, and upon entering the Curl up and Dye, he’d come face to face with a crying little girl.

He’d lied to Uma about collecting from her, though he suspected she’d known, because he’d never been able to fool his captain.

He’d painted her nails, she’d painted his, it’d become their thing. It’d also been the day Harry had realized he was fabulous at painting peoples’ nails.

“I promise,” He told her. And before he overthought it, he pressed a kiss to her forehead.

She said goodbye and ducked into the crowd. He followed her with his eyes until he lost sight of her.

Sighing, he almost didn’t hear it when CJ snuck up on him.

“Aw, Harry, you’re such a softie!” His sister exclaimed, cackling. He elbowed her sharply, hurrying to cover up his expression with a scowl.

“Every time you laugh I expect to see darkening skies and flying monkeys overheard. And an ugly hag shouting ‘ _Surrender, Dorothy’_ —”

“Wrong story,” CJ interrupted him smoothly. She grinned with all of her teeth, “Also, the skies ‘round here can’t get any darker than they already are, what with our sister looking as grey and brooding as all get out.”

“Put a sock in it,” Harriet snapped, stomping off to where their father was.

“What were you and the runt chatting about? Looked like you were getting pretty cozy.” CJ patted him on the back like she was comforting him, “I hate to break your heart, but she’s a little too young for you.”

“Sod off,” Harry told her. “And don’t call her that. I’m the only one who gets to call her creative nicknames.”

“‘Young One’?” CJ snorted, “Not that creative.”

“Didn’t I tell you to sod off?”

“You did. I ignored you.”

“Pity,” He saw a flash of yellow followed by the tails of a bandana and breathed a sigh of relief. Gil. “Well, this has been fun. But I’ve got plotting and scheming to do, a kingdom to bring to its knees. Revenge to enact. You know how it goes.” He tipped his hat to CJ, “Goodbye, little sister.”

She gripped onto his sleeve before he could leave, expression going grim and somber. “Before you go, listen to me.”

Instantly, he was on guard. “What?”

“Whether or not this goes the way we want it to,” CJ met his eyes, pinning him with her gaze. Keeping him in place. “You have to promise me that you won’t leave me stuck here. Swear it.”

The pressure on his hand became crushing. He couldn’t feel the pain, could only see his sister’s eyes. For the first time in their lives together, he saw fear there. Fear and vulnerability and insecurity. She was afraid he was going to abandon her.

Harry didn’t know what to do. He wasn’t used to showing emotion to anyone outside Uma and Gil. Dizzy was easier, she was a child, albeit a smart and clever one, but he knew she would never use his weaknesses against him.

Until now, he hadn’t been sure about CJ. Now he was. If she could let her mask slip like this in front of him, he could do the same for her.

He didn’t kiss her forehead like he’d kissed Dizzy’s, but he made her the same oath.

“I swear.”

She stepped back. “Limo’s waiting.” A cocky smirk turned up the corners of her lips, but Harry knew there was more to her than that now. Knew there was more than her swagger and her thirst for adventure.

For the first time, he felt like he was really seeing her. And what a dangerous thought that was.

He was grateful Uma had allowed his sisters’ passage into Auradon once they took over, he wouldn’t have known what to do had she denied it. He would always choose Uma, no question, no hesitation. But fleeing this hellhole with the knowledge that he’d lied straight to CJ’s face, with the knowledge that he’d condemned her to the same fate that blasted King had, he wouldn’t have been able to live with it. Not completely.

“Harry!” Ah, his captain’s voice. Offering his arm to CJ, she linked hers with his and they strolled towards the limo together.

He left her with Harriet and his father. Touching his pocket, he felt his father’s spyglass, he’d given it to him before they’d gone to the ‘Lost Revenge’ as a parting gift. Apparently, it was spelled by Neverland magic.

All he had to do was whisper what he wanted, and it was supposed to show him. Anything. Even lost things.

It’d come in handy.

He exchanged a quick goodbye with his older sister. She looked from the men in suits working to fit all of their luggage in the trunk to him, scowl deepening. “I told you to just bring the bare minimum.”

Harry feigned innocence, “This is the bare minimum. My bare minimum. You never specified _whose_ definition of minimum we were going by.”

“You’re insufferable.”

“I know. I take great pleasure in it.” He watched as Gil slid into the backseat of the limo, shoulders hunched, and felt alarm bells go off in his head. Gil only walked that way for one reason.

Harry hadn’t seen junior or Third since this morning, nor had he kept track of the two bozos. Or Gil for that matter. He’d been too caught up in talking to Dizzy and CJ.

 _Damn it_.

“Harry?” Harriet was eyeing him wearily.

He forced a smile, it probably came off as demented. “See you on the other side, dear sister.”

Her expression went carefully blank, lips pressing into a thin line. Yes, his smile must definitely look demented.

Well shit.

“Don’t screw up.” She said simply.

He stared at her and made an oath to her too. “I’ll try not to.” _I will not fail you._

When he passed his father, his hook shot out and looped around Harry’s sword buckle. His good hand came up and squeezed the back of Harry’s neck.

“Do not make me regret you.” His father spat, eyes harsh and cold and cruel. In that moment, there was not a trace of madness in them.

“I won’t.” _I will, but there’s not a thing you’ll be able to do about it_.

His father released him and Harry followed Gil into the limo, he looked back in time to see Uma break through the line of people. She had a self-satisfied smirk on her face. Harry knew that smirk, it was the one she wore after watching an enemy walk the plank.

Behind her were Mal, Evie, Carlos and Jay. Mal looked furious, and Harry immediately knew what Uma was so pleased about.

Good for her, lording it over Maleficent’s self-entitled brat. There’d been a time when Harry had actually _cared_ about Mal. He scoffed thinking about it now.

Well, okay. He hadn’t cared about her per say, but he’d tolerated her better than most. Mostly, he’d tolerated her for Uma. She and Mal had been very close and Harry knew they’d dated at some point. He felt his blood boil every time he thought about it, Uma had deserved so much better than that second rate momma’s girl.

The only bright side to the whole thing had been meeting Jay. He and the thief had been as close as two people who ran in the same circles could be, they’d fallen into bed together every now and again, when Jay’s father got too greedy and his father hit the rum a little too hard.

Then Mal had gone and humiliated Uma and everything had gone to hell. Jay didn’t speak to him anymore, which if he were honest with himself hurt more than it should have. He didn’t know what Jay had been to him, he’d never had the chance to figure it out. They were nothing but enemies now thanks to Mal.

He’d hated her for taking Jay away from him, but he’d absolutely despised her for what she’d done to Uma.

She’d invented that blasted nickname. It’d been the only time Harry had ever seen Uma close to tears, when she’d returned to her mother’s shop and locked herself in the back room and hadn’t let anyone in or come out for hours. Even him.

He’d sworn that day that Mal would get what was coming to her. It might take years and he might have to cross Maleficent to do it—which, he didn’t care, because without her magic the Mistress of all evil wasn’t really that scary. He might die in the process, so be it. He would avenge his captain’s honour.

It infuriated him even now. How _dare_ Mal? Mal, who was worth less than the dirt underneath Uma’s boots, humiliate his sea Goddess like _that_?

He fantasized about hurting Mal, about looking her in the eyes and running his hook across her neck. But he wouldn’t kill her, no, that would be an injustice to Uma. He’d let his captain deliver the finishing blow, she deserved nothing less.

As Uma neared Harry managed to catch a glimpse of Jay. He tried to meet the thief’s eyes but Jay wasn’t looking at him. He never did anymore. He saw Mal turn to whisper furiously in Jay’s ear, looking like a toddler throwing a tantrum, and gritted his teeth.

“Stop staring,” Uma said, breaking him from his thoughts of separating Mal’s head from her shoulders. He held the door open for her as she got in. “You’re oozing desperation.”

“I resent that,” He told her, sparing one last glance at the crowd before sliding in. It felt finite, like ink on a parchment, irreversible. He wasn’t ever coming back here. “I don’t ooze anything. I glow. Anything you have to say to the contrary are wicked lies.”

“You’re right about the wicked part.” Uma lowered her voice as all the men in suits piled into the car. She inched forward, the leather seat squeaking. “Auradon better shore up for a war.” She fingered her shell necklace, “I’m gonna give them one. They won’t know what hit them.”

This was why Harry swore loyalty to her, loyalty and devotion and everything the Isle had nothing of. She was malicious and vindictive and spiteful. Nasty and ruthless. She was excruciating.

Like a bottomless ocean. He was drowning in her, willingly.

His dark sea goddess, reigning vengeance and death until everyone foolish enough to go against her sank.

Suddenly, the limo lurched forward.

“Bumpy seas ahead,” She mused, looking out the window as they drove towards the water separating the Isle and Auradon. “Something wicked this way comes.”

Harry let himself have two minutes to fantasize about everything he was going to do when he ruled Auradon with an iron fist. Done.

Now, he turned to the final member of their trio. He was being oddly silent.

“What did they do?” Harry asked, cutting to the chase.

Wordlessly, Gil pulled his sleeveless vest over his head and showed them his back.

Harry gripped the seat tightly. It took every fibre of his willpower to not jump out of the car and run back to the Isle so he could rip Junior and Third limb from bloody limb.

“Those…” Uma ran her hand softly over the large gashes, the swelling bruises and welts. Her shoulders were shaking, fire and rage and a living fury so powerful that it sucked all of the air out of the car.

Had Gil’s brothers been present, the look on Uma’s face would have driven them to drowning themselves just to escape her wrath.

“I’m going to kill them. I’ll make them suffer, that I promise you.” She cupped Gil’s cheek and pressed a light kiss, an unbreakable vow.

“Thank you,” Gil shivered, leaning into her touch. “I’d promise to make someone suffer for you, but the only person I can think of is your mom, and I can’t kill her.”

“It’s okay,” Uma petted his back tenderly. “I don’t need you to kill for me. Just knowing that you would is enough.”

She hummed a little, and eventually all of the tension bled out of the car. Harry was still furious, but he could wait until Uma gave him the go ahead to kill Gil’s brothers.

Abruptly, the divider separating the front seat and backseat rolled down.

“Hey,” Someone barked sharply. “Put your clothes back on, this isn’t a private show room.”

Harry had no idea what a private show room was, but he already wanted to decapitate the man for intruding on a moment that was solely his, Uma’s and Gil’s. He had no business being privy to it.

Gil startled and hurriedly put his shirt back on.

Uma glared at the man, before a poison-sweet smile curled her lips. The kind that was lethal and sinister covered up by honey and sugar. Like a poison apple baked into a pie.

“Our bad,” She said. “Hey, can this car cross the water?”

The man went on as if he hadn’t heard her question. One of his buddies said, “Hold on, we’re reaching the edge now.”

That was when Harry saw they were rapidly approaching the edge of the Isle. They were going to fall off.

He and Uma could swim, given the crash didn’t kill them. But Gil—

He and Uma had the same thought at the same time. They both latched onto one of Gil’s arms and pressed their bodies to his, Uma shielding him and Harry shielding both of them.

Those bloody Auradon bastards, so this was their plan then. To drown them. Suck them in with false promises of getting off the Isle then burying them at sea—

Harry closed his eyes, waiting for the feeling of falling.

It never came.

Uma went ramrod straight in his grip, and that was the only warning he had before a shimmering, gold bridge appeared out of thin air, carrying them across the water.

Harry had one eye open, waiting to see if the bridge was just a figment of his imagination before cracking open the other one. He flopped back against his seat.

“Bloody hell,” He muttered.

Gil glanced from him to Uma, “What’s happening?” He asked, “Is this magic?”

They were outside the barrier. _They were outside the barrier_.

The first few seconds, Harry was sure he was hallucinating. The one thing that’d kept them going, day to day, was the idea of getting off the Isle. Of punching through that blasted barrier.

They were finally on the other side, finally free. It was almost unbelievable, as in he didn’t believe it.

But then he turned around and saw the Isle getting smaller in the distance, and the long, gold expanse of the bridge.

Reality fell away, then came crashing back down.

A relief so strong it made him feel faint gripped him.

He was free. They were free. The two most important people in the world were here with him. Here. Now. They could do whatever they wanted. Go wherever. Without the fear of running into invisible walls.

He was no longer in a prison without bars. No longer forced to breathe in a place without air.

Harry inhaled deeply, and felt giddy enough to turn the world to ash.

“Captain?” Gil’s worried tone halted his wild thoughts. He almost snapped at him, but then he saw Uma’s face. She’d gone pale.

Harry dropped to his knees in front of her, “Uma?”

Her eyes were glazed over, hazy, it took a while for them to focus on him. “I feel it.” She said, slow and pained like she was struggling to speak. “Magic. It’s…” Ah, Harry got it. Uma had the powers of the sea at her finger tips, but the barrier kept magic out. She’d never felt the full brunt of her power, not until now.

The shift must’ve been agonizing.

“Does it hurt?” He asked her.

“No.” She held her hand up, gazing at it in wonder. It was emanating an aqua-blue glow, pulsing and glittering. Only a few feet away from her, Harry saw it, saw her eyes flash that otherworldly turquoise.

It was magnificent. She was more radiant than he’d ever seen her, something he’d thought impossible until now.

“It’s incredible.” Her whole body shook with the force of it, she looked mesmerising. Harry had always known she was extraordinary, this proved him right.

“What can you do now? Like—” Gil adjusted his bandana around his head. “Can you turn a pumpkin into a carriage?”

“Do I look like someone’s fairy godmother?” Uma wiggled her fingers, as if getting used to the new feel of them. A curious look crossed her face, “Let me try something.”

She turned and faced Gil, glancing at the men in the front seat to make sure they weren’t paying attention. In a low, melodic voice, she spoke. Clutching her necklace.

“By the powers given to me by the seas, heal all of your injuries.”

Miraculously, the fresh scratches on Gil’s arms started to disappear. If Harry could’ve seen his back, he imagined the same thing was happening.

“Holy sweet-damn,” Gil murmured as the last of his wounds sealed up. Leaving nothing but scabbed over, white scar tissue in its wake.

Uma’s grin resembled the Cheshire Cat’s.

“You’re brilliant,” Harry told her, still a little bit in awe. “Not that I didn’t already know that, but…damn.”

“Worship me gentlemen,” She said, tone suggesting she was only half joking.

“I am,” Harry said, utterly serious. “I completely am. If I weren’t already on my knees, I’d get on my knees.”

Gil traced the skin of a freshly healed bruise. His eyes shone with wonder, “Thanks, captain.”

“Build me a throne when we get to Auradon,” She waved off his thanks.

“What are you three whispering about back there?” A gruff voice said. “Speak up, we need to hear you.”

 _So you can hear us plotting your demise? No thank you_. Harry thought sarcastically.

“Excuse me,” Uma called, purposefully making her voice louder and shrill. Harry smirked when he saw one of the men wince in irritation. Served ‘em right.

“How did you open the barrier?”

The driver held up a sleek, steal remote with a single button on it. “This connects to the magical field surrounding the barrier.”

Uma’s eyebrows knitted, “So it’s like magic and technology together?”

“Something like that,” The words were laced with derision and mockery, like he was ridiculing her. Harry would make sure to make his death slow and painful when they brought this snobby kingdom to its knees.

“Good to know,” Uma said, and Harry knew she was filing that information away for later.

Speaking of the barrier.

Harry swallowed, “Captain?”

Picking up on how quiet he was being, she leaned forward. “What?”

“You know how you said Harriet and CJ could come to Auradon after we take over?”

She straightened, sensing his trepidation and how he was approaching the subject cautiously. “Yes?”

He thought ‘ _to hell with it’_ and just got the words out all in a rush.

“CanDizzymaybecometoAuradontoo—”

“Harry,” Uma snapped. “Breathe. Talk slowly.”

Harry fiddled with his sword, “Can…Dizzy…maybe—”

“Not that slowly.” Now he was getting on her nerves, he could tell.

He clasped his hands together and shot her his best puppy eyes. “Can Dizzy come to Auradon too? Please? Pretty please? Pretty please with someone’s heart on top—”

“I get it!” Uma’s nose scrunched up in disgust. She twirled a lock of her hair as she thought. “Dizzy Tremaine? The girl you sneak off to go paint each other’s nails with?”

“One and the same,” Harry said.

“Alright.” Uma conceded, “But on one condition.”

Harry was nodding before she’d even finished. “Anything. You name it.”

“You occupy yourself by painting her nails—” Uma crossed her arms, seemingly delighted with herself. “Instead of mine.”

Oh, she just had to make this hard on him.

Harry groaned and tipped his head back, “You know where to jab a man where it hurts. Fine. I solemnly swear to never ambush you with nail polish again.”

“Good.” Uma said. “Waking up to find you hunched over me painting my nails bubble gum pink wasn’t exactly a fun night.”

“It was for me.” Harry replied. “Sucks that you’re a light sleeper.”

“Guys,” Gil pipped up, “Look.”

They’d reached land. Reached Auradon. The land of high castles and sunshine and skies as blue and cloudless as the eye could see. Craning his neck, Harry watched as the bridge and the Isle faded, until it became nothing but a speck on the black horizon.

Suddenly, something in him seized.

 _Go back._ He wanted to yell. _Turn around. Bring me back. Right now_.

With every inch of distance, it felt like he was losing pieces of himself, and he’d never been whole to begin with.

It was like the Isle had never existed at all.

Harry had to shove the thought down, or else he was going to go mad. Well, madder.

“Harry.” Uma leveled him with her gaze, brown eyes that glinted with a hint of turquoise. She laid her hand on his. “It’s fine. We’re fine.”

He was very aware she was talking to him like he was a two-year old. He felt like one, right now.

He needed to direct his brain elsewhere. Remembering the spyglass in his pocket, he latched onto that with both hands.

“My father gave me something,” He eyed the men in the front, luckily, the divider was back up. “It’s a spyglass. Infused with magic from Neverland. Apparently,” He held it out for Gil and Uma to see. “If you whisper it something, it’ll show you what you seek.”

Uma plucked it out of his hands, testing its weight.

“Try it out,” Gil suggested.

Harry waited for Uma’s nod before holding the spyglass up to his eye. “Uh…show me the Isle.”

Quick as a blink, the Isle appeared in his field of vision. “Whoa.” He breathed.

Uma perked up, “Is it working?”

“Yeah,” Harry adjusted the size settings, realizing that by twisting it left, he could zoom in on things, and by twisting it right, he could zoom out. Wicked.

“Wicked,” He voiced his thoughts. Handing the spyglass to Uma, he let her test it out for herself.

She brought it up to her eye, letting out a small gasp. “Oh, this is gonna save us a bunch of time.” She passed it back to Harry and he slid it into his coat pocket, hidden from view. “We can use it to find the wand.”

“We could be ruling Auradon by tomorrow if we’re lucky.” He and Uma exchanged diabolical glances, she looked so ravishing in that moment, he was tempted to kiss her and throw all caution to the wind. She’d probably bite him, but still.

“I have question,” Gil said. “That has nothing to do with ruling Auradon. Why’d your mom want you to go to the Chip Shoppe with her?”

Right. Harry had forgotten about that. He must really be slipping if Gil had a better memory than him.

“To give me this,” Uma pointed to her neck. Harry squinted, noticing that she was wearing two necklaces instead of just the one. He hadn’t paid close enough attention before to realize that she now had both halves of the sea shell.

“Is that…” She nodded.

“My mother’s necklace. She gave it to me.” Uma fitted both jagged halves together, and the shell sparkled when they connected. “She said that one half would strengthen my own magic, while the other half would let me tap into hers.”

“Wait,” Harry processed that. “Your mother is letting you—willingly—tap into her magic?”

“Yeah,” Uma scoffed. “She’s gonna be so pissed when she realizes I have no intention of getting her off the Isle.”

Yeesh, Harry would not want to be a barnacle on the side of that ship when it dawned on Ursula she’d been bested by her own daughter.

“Does that mean your magic is doubled?”

“I think so,” Uma shrugged, “Can’t really tell. First time using magic and all.”

“Whoa! Guys!” Gil tapped Harry’s shoulder and pointed to the far side of the limo, where none of them had spared a glance until now. It was jam packed with jars filled to the brim with different types of candies and chocolates.

Harry looked at the goodies, then at Gil. The blonde shouted, “Dibs!”

Uma grabbed Gil by his collar and hauled him back down. “Guys, it might be poisoned.” She stared at both of them like they were simpletons. “Did you think of that?”

Crap. No, he hadn’t thought of that. Double crap. Thank the Gods’ for Uma and her common sense.

Gil settled back into his seat, eyeing the candy forlornly. Harry couldn’t help but do the same, he’d never seen such variety before. Or any variety.

“Boys,” She muttered, more to herself than them.

Harry opened his mouth to answer when a noise reached his ears. It sounded like music, but the terrible kind. The kind that drove people to chopping off their ears.

“Is that…music?” Gil pressed his face to the window.

“I think it’s a band,” Uma said.

As the noise grew louder, the car slowed down. Harry spotted the ‘Welcome to Auradon Prep’ sign before Gil or Uma did.

“We’re here,” He sighed. Time to put on a show. “Captain, which fake smile should I plaster on my face?”

“Whichever one doesn’t look crazy,” Uma’s hand tightened on the door handle.

The limo came to a full stop, and she turned to address both of them. “Poker faces on, okay? If this goes how we want it, we won’t have to deal with these self-righteous dicks for long.”

The front doors opened and Harry saw the shadow of the driver come around the car to open the door for them.

“We ride with the tide.” Uma said.

He and Gil echoed her.

The door opened and sunlight poured in.

 


	3. Those Left Behind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leaving is hard, but watching people leave is harder. The core four watch the limo pull away and think of another life where they were the ones who escaped.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! Sorry I haven't updated in a while, college has me so stressed out I could cry. Hugs and kisses to everyone who commented and left their wonderful opinions, you are all beautiful people and I love you all. No sea three in this chapter, but the rest of the story from here on out will focus on them. I just thought I'd give you all a little look on how Mal and the other vk's are feeling. Full-disclosure; I don't like Mal, and my general dislike of her might show in my writing so if there's a tiny bit of Mal bashing and you're a hardcore Mal fan than feel free to skip over it. I love Evie, Carlos and Jay so no worries there :) Now that that little disclaimer's out of the way, on with the story! Show your love in the comments, my darlings. (Or don't, that's okay too) <3

* * *

 Carlos was used to feeling like shit. He doubled as his mother's slave, her human ashtray when she needed to snuff out her cigarette butts and on days when she was crazier than usual, well, those days he spent at the clubhouse because he didn't very much feel like dying.

Highs and Lows. His life consisted of highs and lows and _really_ _lows_. But his life also consisted of Jay, which was what kept him going most days because it was _Jay_ , and how could he _not_.

Today was a low day, an in-between where things sucked but could still get worse. Things got worse really fast on the Isle, so Carlos held onto Jay's arm and tried not to get swept up in the hurricane that was coming.

That hurricane came in the form of a car and a list. Mal's mother was more frenzied and enraged than he'd ever seen her. Mal actually looked scared, and Mal had never been scared of her mother the way that Carlos was of his, but today she looked it.

"You should have been chosen! You should have been on that list! Disgraceful wretch-" Jay snuck Carlos and Evie out of the room while Maleficent was spitting fire in Mal's face and Cruella was petting her fur coat and Evil Queen was avoiding the objects Maleficent was throwing in her rage. Jafar was lounging on a chair in the corner looking absolutely done with the drama.

"We shouldn't leave Mal in there," Carlos said when they were out of earshot. "In the state her mom's in I wouldn't be surprised if Maleficent threw Mal across the room."

"Don't be ridiculous, Maleficent would never be able to lift Mal," Jay said. Carlos smacked him on the arm, "Not the point," He glanced at Evie. "You okay, E?"

"Yeah," But Carlos saw her wipe furiously at her eyes. "Fine. Just...I was not expecting that on a Tuesday."

"Tuesdays are our worst days," Jay said factually, "We should have expected something like this to happen."

"I thought you hated Mondays?"

"I'm flexible." Jay and Evie's attempts at humor were just sad. Carlos wanted to storm back in there and get Mal the hell away from her mother. He knew what it felt like to be hit, he knew the feeling well, and Mal didn't need to carry that with her for the rest of her life.

A particularly loud shout made Carlos jump, on second thought, Mal was tough. She could handle herself.

Carlos leaned against the alley wall and closed his eyes. He was tired of the screaming and the threats, he was tired of the darkness that never seemed to go away even if his eyes were open. He was tired of the fear. He was just tired.

"Do we know who was on the list?" He asked, he felt Jay's gaze on him even though he couldn't see the boy.

"No," Jay said. "Mal's mom didn't get to that part in her rant yet."

"Who do you think it is?" Evie's voice was quiet. "For Maleficent to be that angry it must be someone she hates."

"That doesn't narrow it down at all, she hates everybody," Jay said. "Literally everybody hates everybody here."

Except them. Carlos knew where the four of them stuck out from the rest. Carlos didn't hate Jay or Evie or Mal, and that made him wrong in ways that would get him executed if anyone ever found out. It would get all of them executed.

"Maybe Hadie or Hayley?" Carlos suggested, "I don't know if Maleficent's on the outs with Hades or not."

"I saw Hayley yesterday with Quinn," Jay said. "She talked to me and Mal, which means Hades and Maleficent must be on a truce."

"Did you see Hadie?" Evie asked.

"No," Jay scoffed, "Good thing we didn't, Mal would have torn her hair out."

"She would have done her a favor," Evie twirled a lock of her hair idly, "Hadie's hair is a tragic as Mal's shoes."

"What's wrong with her shoes?" Carlos cracked one eye open.

"Honey," Evie ran her hand through his hair soothingly, "Nobody should ever be in those shoes."

"Duly noted," Jay continued, "Claudine, maybe? But Maleficent doesn't really have a problem with Frollo, unless he's trying to perform on exorcism on her or some shit."

Evie shivered, "That man is such a creep, he always stares at me whenever we go by the creperie."

"We'll stop going by there," Jay turned to Carlos and shrugged. "That's all I got, guys. Every other villain here pretty much steers clear of Maleficent."

Just then a door slammed and all three of them jumped, Jay yelped and tried to cover it up by pretending to cough. Mal stood in the dark of the alley, arms crossed and glaring at them.

"Thanks for the backup, guys."

"You're welcome," Jay replied, "What's going on with the car that showed up out of nowhere and the guys in monkey suits?"

"They're from Auradon." Silence settled over the four of them. Mal paused, either trying to catch her breath or build up for dramatic effect. "As a part of the new king's decree three kids were picked to go to school in Auradon."

From the bits and pieces he'd heard of Maleficent's tantrum, he assumed Mal wasn't one of the people who'd gotten an invite. He felt bad for hoping he was one of the kids chosen despite the fact that he'd be leaving her behind. Well, he was a villain's kid, selfish above all.

"Who was picked?" Jay asked the million-dollar question.

At the look of pure murder that crossed Mal's face then, Carlos almost wanted Jay to take the question back. He could think of a few people Mal really hated, maybe Hadie had been chosen after all-

"Uma, Harry and Gil," Mal spat out their names like someone had force-fed her a poison apple. "Them of all people, _them_."

Carlos tried not to notice how Jay straightened at Harry's name, he picked at the hole in his sleeve that he'd have to ask Evie to sew later. "I guess it goes without saying that you're mom was pissed about that?"

"Damn right she was pissed," Mal said. "Obviously, our golden ticket to getting off this pathetic rock is ruined all because of Uma!"

Carlos pretended not to hear the faulty logic in that, sometimes Mal just needed someone to blame, that someone was almost always Uma. Carlos would never totally understand the complexity of their relationship. Mal said she hated Uma, but if you hated someone you wouldn't talk about them twenty-four-seven. Whatever. Carlos gave up trying to figure Mal out a long time ago.

"Is there a plan?" Jay inquired, "Please tell me there's a plan."

"My mom's going to try to cut a deal with Ursula," Mal huffed, "If you ask me, I think it's useless. The octopus hates her."

"There's not really much else she can do." The list was put together, and they weren't on it. So unless three of them managed to impersonate Uma, Harry and Gil and took their place in the limo, there wasn't a lot the mistress of all evil could do. Besides, that would still leave one of them stuck here. Negotiation was the only viable option left.

"Maybe if your mom offers her something?" Maleficent wasn't famous for her people skills, Carlos knew that and so did Mal and everyone else on the Isle. Ursula would smell her ulterior motive from a mile away. "What if they agree to team-up?"

"My mom? Team-up with Ursula?" Mal snorted, "As if."

"If it's the only option," Evie murmured, "She'd have to, I mean, getting off the Isle is the important thing, right? Who cares who's the one to do it?"

"I do," Mal said. "So does my mom, _we're_ meant to be the baddest. I don't understand how shrimpy made the cut, who the fuck made that list?"

"An idiot, obviously," Jay muttered. "But as much as it pisses me off that it's not going to be us, Evie's right. All that matters is getting off the Isle. If that barrier does come down, who gives a shit who lowered it? We'll be free, at least."

Mal gritted her teeth, Evie placed a hand on her arm. "M, come on."

"What do we do in the meantime while they're gallivanting in Auradon?"

"Plotting all the ways to bring Auradon to its knees once the barrier comes down, duh," Jay mused. "Mal, stop thinking so much. It's not about us, this is bigger. This is freedom, for fuck's sakes. Stop making everything about Uma."

"I don't make everything about Uma," Mal grumbled. Carlos bit back a _bitch please,_ because hell yeah she made everything about Uma. Beating Uma, humiliating Uma, Carlos wondered if it came down to freedom or coming out on top in their rivalry, Mal would pick the latter.

The three of them shared a look, simultaneously deciding that _yeah, that was absolute bullshit_.

"Why are you all looking at each other?" Mal asked.

"No reason," Evie smiled sweetly, "So what do we do now? Can we go back inside? It's cold and while I look fabulous, this top isn't warm."

Carlos wrapped an arm around her shoulders, thought about giving her his jacket but ultimately deciding against it. If he gave her his jacket, no doubt Jay would give him his, and Jay was only wearing a wife-beater underneath. At least Evie had on long sleeves.

"I wouldn't," Mal warned. "She's still throwing stuff. Better to go to the clubhouse and let her cool off."

Carlos didn't need to be told twice, Evie had started shivering and he didn't want her to get sick. They didn't even have basic medicine on the Isle, the smallest cold could be fatal if you weren't strong enough to fight it off. When they got to the entrance, Carlos threw a rock at the sign and hurried up the stairs. He grabbed the ratty blanket left over from his stay on the couch last night and draped it over Evie's shoulders. The couch made a groaning sound as he and Evie sat down, it was due to give up on them any day now, Jay talked about stealing another one but Carlos knew there was nowhere to steal one from.

He bet they had couches in Auradon, softer and a hell of a lot better than this one. He couldn't help the overwhelming wave of jealousy that washed over him then, why did it have to be Uma, Harry and Gil? Why did they get to escape this hole of hell and misery while he was stuck repeating the cycle over and over? Why was the universe determined not to let him have anything?

Evie's head settled on his shoulder and he reminded himself that he did have something. He had Evie, Jay and Mal, and they were enough for him. Did that make Carlos a horrible person for wanting more?

Jay stretched out across Carlos and Evie's laps, head in Evie's so she could braid his hair. He said it helped calm her down but Carlos just thought Jay had a thing for people braiding his hair. Carlos would have to test out the theory. Mal was pacing, determined to wear out a hole in the floor. Without taking her eyes off Jay, Evie said, "M, come sit down."

"I can't, if I stop I'm going to-" Her hands balled into fists and Carlos saw a flash of green. "I'm going to set something on fire."

"I set fires to feel joy," Jay said conversationally. "Maybe it'll help loosen the stick up your ass."

"Fuck off," Mal told him, still pacing. "You're such a dick."

"You really are," Carlos agreed. Jay smirked and patted Carlos' cheek, "But you still love me."

"If I didn't do you think I would let you rest your giant feet in my lap?"

Evie snickered, Jay shot her a frown. "Traitor."

"Dick," Evie retorted. Jay muttered something about feeling attacked when Mal whirled around, bright-eyed and like she'd had a life-changing epiphany. "Guys!" She exclaimed, "What if we steal the limo?"

There was a collective pause. "The fuck?" Jay said eloquently, "There are like six guys guarding it, us against six guys? And they might be carrying weapons or something."

"It could work," Mal argued.

"M, I want to go to Auradon just as much as you," Evie had a dreamy look in her eyes, no doubt thinking about princes and castles. "But that is a terrible idea. We would get our asses handed to us. No doubt."

Mal stomped her foot, "Fine! How about instead of poking holes you come up with a plan then?"

"Uh," Jay pretended to mull it over. "How about waiting for your mom to talk it over with Ursula and seeing what comes out of that?"

"I meant something pro-active!" Mal snapped.

"Sorry, can't help you there. My motto's 'minimum effort'."

Carlos arched an eyebrow, "I thought your motto was 'there's no I in team'."

"I said I was flexible," Jay reminded him, and Carlos really didn't need to know how flexible Jay was. He didn't need that image in his head, Jay did things to him just by breathing.

"Maybe if we-" Evie's ladylike yawn cut Mal off. "Sorry, M. I didn't get much sleep last night. Do you mind plotting silently for a bit? Thanks." She curled up on her corner of the couch and closed her eyes. Carlos tightened the blanket around her shoulders and slipped a pillow under her head.

"E's got the right idea," Carlos shifted in a semi-comfortable position, "I don't know about you but I didn't get any sleep either. Wake me up when there's news on the Auradon thing."

Mal's jaw almost hit the floor, "We just got the biggest news of our lives and you want to _sleep_?"

"Close your mouth, you'll catch flies." Jay advised, "There's nothing we can do until we know more, Mal. Might as well, right? It'll be better if we're not dead on our feet."

"I guess," Mal crammed in next to Carlos and leaned her head on his chest. "I still don't like it."

Carlos resisted the urge to laugh, "I'd be worried if you did."

* * *

 "Guys! Jay! Carlos! E! Evie, get up!"

"What?" Evie groaned, "Inside voice, M."

"Get up, all of you!"

The blanket was ripped off of her and Evie shivered at the cold, "I'm up, I swear." She needed to find thicker material to make clothes out of, the faux leather was nice and stylish as hell but she was going to get hypothermia at this rate. Her hair was already blue, her fingers didn't need to be.

"What happened?" Carlos sat up, blinking owlishly.

"Where's the fire?" Jay mumbled, making no move to lift his head. "Unless something's on fire I'm not moving."

"Diablo was here, I woke up and he was watching us sleep."

Jay muttered a few colorful words and lifted his head, "Well that's not creepy at all."

"I really hate that bird," Carlos said.

"Me too," Evie shuddered, thinking of its inky black feathers and sharp beak. "I feel like there are eyes on me wherever I go."

"That's cause you're fine as fuck, E. You can't blame the bird for trying." A lazy smirk spread across Jay's face and Evie smacked him lightly on the chest, grinning, "I swear one of these days Jay-"

"Guys! Hello, Diablo? My mother's calling us! We have to go."

"Fine," Jay got to his feet and extended an arm to help Evie up. "Let's hope it's something good and not another lecture about how we're all failures."

Mal turned and glowered at him.

"Too soon?" Jay asked innocently.

Carlos flicked him in the ear, "Poor taste, dude."

When they got to the haunt all of their parents were seated at a square table with Maleficent at the head, "Children," She greeted.

"Mom," Mal took point, "What's up?"

"Since you have all proven yourselves complete and utter failures," Out of the corner of her eye Evie saw Jay nudge Carlos and mouth 'I told you so'. Maleficent was too busy spitting venom in Mal's face to notice. "I had to use my quick thinking and strike up a deal with Ursula. Me, lowering myself to bargaining with that plate of under cooked calamari." Maleficent shuddered as if disgusted, "But we came to an agreement. Her daughter and her lackeys will go to Auradon, gain the trust of those _stupid_ princes and princesses, and snatch the wand. Then they will bring the wand back here. Ursula will be keeping tabs on her and keeping me in the loop. I'm supposed to meet her at the docks now."

Her mom, Jafar and Cruella all stood up collectively. "You urchins can come if you want, but no antagonizing Ursula's girl. You've screwed up enough recently, there's no need for you to embarrass yourselves further." She left in a swish of her cape, leaving the rest of them to trail after her.

Evie grabbed Mal's hand when she saw her nails digging into her palms, "Stop that," She chided. "Making yourself bleed's not gonna help."

"It'll make me feel better," Mal hissed.

"In the long run you're just going to feel worse," Carlos said, falling into step on Evie's other side. Jay threw an arm around Mal's shoulders, "You wanna find someone else to make bleed?" Jay tilted his head towards the marketplace, "Tremaine and his gang, maybe? I'll let you land the first hit."

"Tempting as that is," Mal slowly uncurled her fist, breathing deeply. "Maybe after. Scratch that, definitely after."

"Whatever you want," Jay looked over Mal's head at Evie and Carlos, a silent agreement passing between the three of them. Evie knew they'd have to keep a closer eye on Mal to make sure she didn't do anything reckless. Common sense flew out the window with Mal when she was pissed.

They made it to the docks and things didn't get any better. The whole Isle had gathered to see Uma, Harry and Gil off.

"I guess everyone knows," Evie swallowed, spotting Maleficent, her mom, Jafar and Cruella standing with Ursula, Captain Hook and Gaston. "News spreads fast."

"How long do you think Uma's known?" Carlos asked, "Your mom just heard about it today but she could've known-"

"For weeks," Mal squeezed Evie's hand so tightly she lost feeling in her fingers. "She could've known _for weeks_ , she could've been keeping it under wraps, silently gloating-" Mal went off on a tangent of swear words. Words that would make Evie's mother wash her mouth out with bleach. "That's it, where the fuck is she?"

"M," Mal stormed off and Evie ran to catch up. "Slow down, let's just cool off a little."

"Yeah," Carlos said, matching her pace. "Your mom specifically told you not to start shit."

If anything that made Mal walk quicker. Fuck this, Evie was wearing heels, damn it. She was not going to fall and get her tights all muddy, she'd worn her hands out sewing them. "M, stop, I'm wearing heels. I'm going to-"

As if she'd tempted fate, Evie stepped on a rock and twisted her ankle. Jay swooped in like he'd been waiting for her to trip just so he could catch her and come out looking all heroic and shit. Nonetheless, Evie appreciated it.

"Thanks Jay," He steadied her, keeping an arm firmly locked around her waist, "E, you could wear sensible shoes."

Evie narrowed her eyes at his ridiculous suggestion, "I wear three inches or I wear nothing."

"Shit," Carlos came jogging back, "Evie, you okay?"

"Yeah, my knight in shining armor saved me."

Jay's face turned mock-offended, "How dare you insult me like that."

"Sorry, I meant my knight in thieving armor."

"Better," Jay still hadn't let go of her waist. Evie didn't particularly want him to, her ankle was throbbing and she didn't want to admit she was hurt. "But I'd prefer prince of thieves."

"Shooting a little too high, don't you think?" Evie teased.

"You have such a huge ego," Carlos shook his head, "I don't know how I deal with you every day."

"Cause you'd be lost without me," Jay poked him in the side, where they all knew Carlos was ticklish. "C'mon, admit it, you would be."

"All these years of knowing you has left me scarred."

"But the good kind, right?"

"Carlos, where did Mal go?" Evie had been scanning the crowd for her and hadn't spotted the telltale purple hair. Carlos and Jay ceased their bickering like an old married couple and followed her gaze. "I don't know," Carlos said. "I saw you trip and I doubled back. I don't know where she went."

"Fuck." Jay cursed, "She and Uma could be ripping each other's throats out right now."

Evie tested her ankle, it'd stopped throbbing. "Let's go find her."

They found Mal sitting behind a dumpster near the Chip Shoppe, looking angry and dejected. Evie slid down the grimy alley wall and crouched down beside her, "M," She said softly, "It never means anything good when you're sitting behind a dumpster."

"Especially this close to Ursula's place," Jay sat on Mal's other side, "What's up?"

"I couldn't find her at the docks so I came here, but she already left. The shop's closed." Mal sighed, "I don't even know what I'd say to her if I saw her, I'd probably just punch her in the face."

"Wonderful technique," Jay said. Evie flicked him in the ear, miming zipping her lips. 

"Mal, come on, let's head back to the docks. Maybe she's there and we just missed her." Carlos suggested, "She might be at that ship she and Harry run, but I wouldn't recommend showing up there while she's got her whole crew to back her up."

"You're right," Evie and Jay helped Mal to her feet. "Let's get out of here."

It seemed they still had some bad luck left, because the first thing they saw when they got back to the docks was Uma. The girl spotted them and waved,"Hey Mal, how's your day been? Mine's been great, I woke up in this hellhole, but I hear the scenery's a lot nicer in Auradon. Not that you're ever gonna know." 

And fuck. Evie knew Mal could never refuse a fight after Uma had thrown the first punch.

"Don't get so cocky, shimpy." Uma's flinch was small and she hid it well, but Evie's been trained to see the weaknesses in people. "You don't know, those prissy royals might decide you smell too nasty for their delicate noses and toss your ass back here within the day."

"That won't happen," Uma grinned viciously, "And even if it did and they picked you to replace me, that still makes you second choice. You'd be _my_ replacement, you'd be getting my sloppy seconds. And how does that feel, Mal, huh? Even if you do get off this rock, I still got off it first. And there's not a thing you can do to change it. I bet you feel like shit, don't you? Just like I did when you dumped that shrimp on my head and acted like it made you better than me, well, newsflash dragon breath, it didn't. Because I'm the one who's walking away, and you're the one stuck watching me leave. I won. I hope it hurts."

Uma blew Mal a kiss and left, the crowd parting to let her through. Evie watched her walk over to Harry and whisper something to him, his eyes cutting from her to them. At first glance Evie thought he was staring at her, her cheeks flushing at the attention, but then she realized the person he was really staring at was Jay. The look only lasted a second and Jay didn't notice, but it was enough to make Evie wonder what tragic backstory the two had. There was heartbreak somewhere in Harry's blue eyes, and while she's sure he's completely and utterly devoted to Uma, Evie knew that look.

If only she could build up the courage to ask Jay, but the thief went into shutdown mode whenever someone so much as mentioned Harry to him.

Uma slipped into the limo and the door closed behind her, there was the sound of an engine and then the car was moving. The crowd followed it until it reached the edge of the Isle and disappeared, almost as if by magic. Maybe it was magic.

Everyone dispersed, Harry's sisters walked by them and bumped their shoulders roughly into Mal and Jay, snickering as they went. Jay had to hold Mal back from tackling CJ, her eyes alight with green fire.

Eventually, it was only the four of them left standing there. Evie heard Maleficent coming long before she saw her, "M," She warned, "Incoming."

"Mal!" Mal barely had time to lift her head before Maleficent grabbed a fistful of her hair and yanked her face towards her. "What did you do?"

"Nothing! Mother-"

"I saw you talking with Ursula's girl, if you instigated her-"

"I didn't! She started talking to me, mother please-"

Maleficent let Mal go and shoved her back, Evie caught her and wrapped her arms around Mal protectively. She was ready to fight the mistress of all evil if she so much as laid another hand on Mal, Jay looked like he was ready to attack her now. Carlos' hand on his shoulder was probably the only thing keeping him in place.

"Such a disgrace, I've given you countless chances to prove yourself to me and you wasted them every time. No more. From this day forward you are no longer my daughter, and you have no right to my name. I will not be associated to someone so weak and pathetic. Don't ever darken my doorstep again. That goes for all of you. Consider yourselves orphans from this point on."

For a moment Evie thought she was having a nightmare and that none of this was real, that she was still asleep in her bed, tossing and kicking and screaming because this was too horrible and surreal to be reality.

Diablo let out a caw that sounded like he was mocking them. Maleficent spun on her heel and left. This was real.

Shit.

This was real.

"Mom," Evie reached out for her mother, "Mom, you're not seriously-" Her mother held up one perfectly manicured fingernail, trailing it over the skin of Evie's cheek. "My precious little girl," She sighed forlornly. "So beautiful," Her face suddenly went cold, "It's too bad that beauty can't make up for how absolutely _useless_ you are."

If her mother had stabbed her, Evie was sure that would have hurt less. As it was, she didn't need a knife, her words cut Evie's heart out all on their own "Mommy-"

"Let's go before people see us," Evil Queen stepped away and didn't spare Evie another glance, "I've mingled with enough commoners today to last me a lifetime." 

Evie didn't think this day could get anymore unbearable, and then Jafar hit Jay.

She grabbed the hand of the person closest to her, Carlos or Mal, her tears were obscuring her vision. She didn't see if Jay bled or not, if he flinched or if he just closed his eyes and took it. If Evie thought she had any chance of going up against Jafar and winning, she would have torn him to shreds right there.

But she had no chance, and Mal was clinging to her and Carlos looked too terrified to move. His mother was still there, and Evie knew Cruella had no problem beating her son half to death, whereas Jafar had never gone that far with Jay. As terrible as it sounded, it was better if none of them did anything.

"Come on, you two-bit salesman, you're getting blood on your rings. He's not worth it, none of them are," Cruella narrowed her eyes at Carlos and for a horrifying minute it looked like she was going to slap him. Evie felt herself start to shake, she couldn't handle seeing both of them get hurt.

Luckily, Cruella only snorted and tapped Jafar on the shoulder, "Look at how pathetic they are, cowering and clinging to each other. Disappointments, especially that one. I knew I should have fed him to the dogs as soon as he was born."

Evie heard Carlos' breath hitch, she wanted to hold him and tell him it was going to be okay, but she hated lying to him and he wouldn't believe her.

The street empty and their parents gone, none of them wanted to break the silence because breaking the silence meant accepting what had just happened and Evie wasn't ready to accept anything. _Would things have been different_ , she wondered, _if they'd been the ones chosen to get on that limo? Would her mother have looked at her and not seen someone she couldn't love?_

 _Fuck love_ , Evie thought, letting the last of her tears fall. _It didn't exist anyway_.

"We should go," Jay said, voice scratchy and quiet. "I think my nose is broken."

Shit.

Evie went to check but Carlos got there first, letting Jay lean on him. "It's not broken," Carlos sounded wrecked, but at least he wasn't bleeding. "You need to get ice on that."

"The clubhouse, let's go."

* * *

"Do you think," Carlos asked Jay as he was holding ice up to his face, "That they'll come back?"

"Why're you asking me?" Jay shrugged, his jaw aching, everything aching. "I'm not a fortune teller."

"You knew Harry the best."

Jay bit his lip hard enough to draw blood, he looked over at Mal and Evie, huddled together on that couch that would probably collapse under them any day now. He didn't know.

"I think so," Jay lied, "For his sisters, at least. He wouldn't leave them here."

"You don't know that," Carlos picked up on the lie, he'd always been able to tell when Jay was lying.

"No, I don't."

"What do we do if they don't come back?"

Jay met Carlos' eyes, "I don't know that either."

 


	4. Castles, Princes and Princesses, Oh My! Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Auradon has many things Uma hates, but if she's going to get through this, she needs to stick close to her boys and refrain from killing any princesses. She just wishes the prince would stop staring at her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GUYS, I'M ON BREAK FROM COLLEGE AND THAT MEANS MORE UPDATES! So yeah, just wanted to let you know that. Also, much love to all of you and thanks for the lovely comments. You make my day, hugs and kisses my darlings. xoxo <3

* * *

Uma hated Auradon the minute she stepped out of the limo. Why? Because there was sunlight.

She and sunlight were not in a good place right now.

It took her eyes several minutes to adjust, when they did, she wished they hadn’t.

Everyone was smiling. Even the people playing instruments. One guy looked like he was running out of breath playing the trombone, and he was _still smiling_.

This was a kingdom of freaks.

Gil stepped out after her, his hand resting on her lower back. She squinted to see him, the look on his face was a mix of disdain and extreme terror. If she hadn’t schooled her expression into one of cool disinterest, she imagined the same emotions would show on her face.

Harry was the last out, the driver closing the car door behind him.

“What is this wretched, wretched stuff? It’s burning my eyes.”

“That’s sunlight.” Uma told him.

“Someone turn it off.”

“That’s not how sunlight works.”

“Pity,” Harry looped his arm through Uma’s, standing on her left side while Gil flanked her on the right.

A middle aged woman wearing a light blue dress with her hair pinned up greeted them.

“Hello, children. I’m Fairy Godmother, headmistress of Auradon Prep. Your go-to in case you need anything or are simply having trouble adjusting or even if you just want to talk. Whether its school related or personal matters, feel free to come to me. Now, I’d like you to introduce yourselves, as well as give us a little tidbit of information about yourself. Anything at all.”

She paused, looking at them expectantly. Her sketched on smile never faltered.

Gil broke through the haze of _oh-my-Gods-they’re-all-insufferable-goodie-goodies-fuck_ first. He raised his hand, as if waiting to be called on.

Fairy Godmother turned to him happily, “Yes? And no need to raise your hand, dear. We’re not in a classroom.”

“You keep saying ‘we’ and ‘us.’” Gil glanced around as if he expected someone to jump out of the bushes. “But there’s no one else here. It’s just you, and them, but they aren’t talking.”

Fairy Godmother’s eye twitched, “It’s the royal ‘we’ or commonly referred to as the majestic plural.” She searched his expression, looking for a sign that he’d understood her.

“I don’t get it.” He said.

Uma shushed him before she re-explained it, she’d opened her mouth like she’d been about to. “He gets it,” She held a finger up so Gil would know it was her turn to talk.

“I’m Uma.” She added for good measure, “Daughter of Ursula. And…” Tidbit, tidbit…what could she even say? I’m going to plunder and pillage your kingdom until there’s nothing left and you’re all dead? Like that would go over well. “I hate fish.”

Fairy Godmother made an ‘eh’ motion with her hands, as if she’d wanted something more personal. They’d just met, did the woman really expect Uma to divulge her deepest, darkest secrets? Buy her a drink first, then maybe.

‘I’m Gil,” The blonde gave a little wave. “Son of Gaston. And…I like eggs?”

More of a statement than a question, but the woman took it. Uma wondered if Gil had based his answer off hers, or if he just thought the information they gave had to be food-related. With him, either was a possibility.

Fairy Godmother’s gaze moved to Harry.

Harry bolted for the limo.

“Let me back in!” He banged on the windows, “Take me back! I’d rather rot in that hole than here! Hey!” The car pulled away, kicking up dust in its wake. Harry coughed angrily, matting down his hair and glaring.

“Bloody rude Auradonians! I was raised on an Isle surrounded by villains! What’s your excuse?”

“Excuse me!” Fairy Godmother exclaimed, at the same time a new voice said, “What’s going on here?”

Uma had been fine with letting Harry blow of a little steam—seeing Fairy Godmother get riled up was a win in her book—but at the arrival of two new people, she shot him a look.

He grumbled something unintelligible but otherwise did what she asked.

A girl wearing an obnoxiously pink dress and high heels stopped in front of them, an expression on her face that Uma was much more at ease with. Disgust. That she knew how to deal with, kindness, not so much.

Which was why the boy whose hand she was holding threw her for a loop.

His expression was a complete contrast to the girl’s, it was open and easy, the expression of someone who’d grown up sheltered, who’d never had to fight or kill just for a scrap of bread.

She immediately hated him.

The soft smile he wore was different than Fairy Godmothers, she didn’t want to call it genuine, but there really wasn’t another word to describe it.

She immediately hated him more.

“Prince Ben, finally.” Fairy Godmother looked the slightest bit frazzled, which brightened Uma’s mood a little. “The limo arrived early so I went ahead and gave them the big old Auradon welcome without you.”

If that was the big old Auradon welcome, they needed a new one, stat.

“That’s fine. I’m sorry I was running late, I was in a meeting.” His gaze met hers, and she was aware that he was giving them all critical once-overs. Except there was nothing critical in his gaze. She didn’t know how to deal with this boy. “But that’s not an excuse.”

“Oh, Benny-boo, don’t be so hard on yourself.” Ah, Uma already had a read on this one, she was a bratty spoiled Auradon princess. Finally, someone she could understand and be on equal ground with.

Uma knew how to handle self-entitled bitches. After all, she’d dated Mal.

“Prince Ben?” She gave him a once-over of her own, he didn’t look like anything special. A nice blue suit. Perfectly pressed tie. A little young to become king, was his father fatally ill or something? Why would they instate a teenager as king, when the older, more experienced one was still alive and perfectly fit to run a country?

What was wrong with these people? Evidently, a lot.

“Yes.” His smile widened, if that was possible. She’d say it was fake, but it was too soft to be anything but real. “I’m so glad to meet you. This is a momentous occasion. One that I hope will go down in history.”

Oh, they were definitely going to go down in history, all right. But not for what he thought.

“Same here,” Uma managed to get out without gagging.

“And who are you?” Prissy replied coolly. Uma was going to call her that in her head, no matter what her name was.

Fairy Godmother answered for her. They might not have been evil in Auradon, but they sure as hell were rude.

“This is Uma, Ursula’s daughter. And that’s Gil—” She hesitated, “Gaston’s third son.”

Uma watched princey nod for her to continue, but his eyes lingered on Gil. That’s when Uma remembered who he was, the son of that blasted beast who’d imprisoned them all on the Isle, of that bookworm who’d turned down Gil’s father just to be with a hairy monster-man behemoth.

Did the woman not have functioning eyes?

“And this gentleman didn’t give me his name.”

Uma barely managed to conceal her smirk when they got to Harry. He was fiddling with his hook, looking bored and unimpressed, and vaguely homicidal. She’d dubbed that expression his ‘homicide’ face.

Harry glanced up, “Who, me? A gentleman? Lass you just met me, I don’t do ‘gentlemanly’ things until the second date.”

Uma couldn’t hold back her laugh, and her laughter set Gil off. Fairy Godmother didn’t look amused at all, she looked horrified, like Harry had just described every part of the male anatomy. Prissy’s jaw basically touched the ground.

Someone chuckled, safe to say she wasn’t expecting it to be prince what’s-his-face.

He was just becoming more and more of a mystery. Uma didn’t like mysteries she didn’t know how to solve.

Princey cleared his throat, pretending to be appalled. He was doing a terrible job.

“Do you mind telling me your name?” He asked, not pressing. “Or do you save that for the second date too?”

Harry looked thrown by the question, Uma was too. So there was more to him than just his doe-eyes and his soft voice. Good to know.

“Harry, son of Captain Hook.” Her first mate bowed curtly, “Something about me, I don’t play well with others.”

Fairy Godmother gave a small gasp, “Young man, that is rude.”

“Beyond!” Prissy added, scandalized.

“That’s okay,” Princey ignored the both of them. “There are some days I don’t feel like interacting with people too. Everyone needs their own time to be alone.”

Okay, what was with this guy? Could he just not get offended? Was that it?

“Great, we’re all anti-social, join the club.” Uma squeezed Harry’s arm warningly, as if to say _plaster-on-that-crazy-face-and-smile_.

“Thank you so much for having us, you know, it really must’ve been hard. Choosing something as big as bringing the kids of three major villains over as your first proclamation.” She spoke sweetly, infusing as much sugary-sick warmth in the words as she could. “You must be one brave soul.”

 _Poor unfortunate soul. Idiot for trusting people you’ve never even met, people who hate you_.

“Not that brave,” Princey admitted, surprising her for the umpteenth time since she’d met him five minutes ago. With Prissy and Fairy Godmother to go off of, she hadn’t thought Auradonians were capable of getting off their high horses long enough to admit their faults.

“If I were really brave I would have brought all of you here, but my father’s hair was already going gray at just three.”

So the king was in good health, judging by the statue in the courtyard, he must’ve been adored. Why were they getting rid of him, then? Was it mandate for powers to be passed over when one turned sixteen? That was foolish, not to mention terrible for the poor sixteen year old sap who got stuck running a kingdom that young.

Auradonians were idiots, her opinion of these people was already formed. She’d be doing them all a favor when she took over.

“Why us?” She asked, actually curious. “Why not anyone else? There are thousands of kids on the Isle that deserve a shot.”

Princey’s expression tightened, like the idea of kids being subjected to that kind of life hurt him.

 _Blame your father_ , she thought bitterly. _It’s all his fault_.

“I wanted to start with the ones who needed my help the most, the ones with—” He tapered off, “With the parents who were the hardest to live with. But no one too big time. Like Maleficent or Jafar.” He laughed awkwardly, “That would have been a disaster.”

Yes. Yes it would have, Uma would have been angry enough to burn the whole Isle down if Mal had gotten this chance instead of her. The purple-haired girl would have probably fucked it up anyway.

“Thank the Gods’ you didn’t,” She said, “Those kids are the worst of the worst. Seriously. You shouldn’t bring them here, like ever.”

“Noted, thanks for the advice.” _Not for you, just serving my personal agenda, but hey, if you want to thank me_.

“No problem,” They all stood there in tense silence for a minute. Uma turned to Fairy Godmother. “Say, you’re _the_ Fairy Godmother, right?”

The woman startled, “Is there any other?”

Thankfully, no.

“Yeah, see, I just really wanted to stress how great it is to meet you.” Harry arched an eyebrow at her, as if to say ‘you’re laying it on a little thick’. That was the plan. Fairy Godmother seemed to be falling for it.

“You’re a legend on the Isle, you know, being the one who created the barrier and all. Say, did you bibidy-bobitty-boo that into existence too, or was that more…casual…magic?”

She made a little spell-casting gesture with her hands. The woman gave a twinkling laugh that grated her ears and her nerves. Gods give her strength.

“That was in the past, and like I always say. If you reflect on the past too much, you miss the present. Auradon is all about the future. Those were different times, darker times. Let’s focus on the lighter, okay dear?”

Oh joy.

Gil sent her a worried look. Harry sent her one that said _‘shit.’_

Time to improvise.

“Right,” Uma said. “Of course, it’s just…” She racked her brain, “We really don’t know anything about Auradon’s history, what with being stuck on the Isle our whole lives. Where would one go to learn about stuff like that?”

She was a genius.

“Why, the museum of cultural history, of course!” Fairy Godmother replied cheerfully, way too cheerfully for Uma’s taste. “Its two-point-three miles from here. Occasionally, we have field trips there. But we can talk about that after you get settled in.”

“That’d be delightful,” Uma chipped at one of her nails’ innocently. These people would believe anything if you used the right words and the right expressions. “Just out of curiosity, is your wand displayed there?”

“Yes, it is,” She answered. Damn, how thick could a person be? How had she not connected the dots yet? Wasn’t she the headmistress of the school? Uma would have thought she’d be smarter, or have the basic common sense to withhold such information from the children of villains.

“Now, I have to go attend to matters elsewhere. Prince Ben and Audrey will show you around, give you your schedules, show you to your rooms—”

Backpedaling, Uma felt her blood freeze in her veins. Rooms. As in plural, and not the majestic plural.

There was no way.

“We’re bunking together,” She said, her tone not leaving any room for debate.

And yet, Fairy Godmother debated.

“You’re new, so I’ll forgive you. However, girls’ and boys’ dorms are separated for obvious reasons. You’re young, we can’t have you canoodling.”

What the fuck did ‘canoodling’ even mean?

Uma was willing to give a lot in order to trick these people into thinking she was ready to hop aboard the hero bandwagon, but giving up Gil and Harry? Auradon wasn’t worth that.

“I’m not rooming with a total stranger.”

“We’ll have you room with Audrey,” Fairy Godmother waved away her concerns. Prissy made a noise that was half squawk half squeal.

Uma was with her on this one. No way in hell.

From the way Gil’s hand moved from her back to clasp her wrist, and Harry took a step forward like he was ready to jump Fairy Godmother, Uma knew they had her back. None of them were willingly separating, they’d have to drag them apart by force.

“Then thanks but no thanks,” She aimed her words at Ben. “But I think we’ll take the first limo back to the Isle.”

There was dead silence.

“Wait—” Ben made a placating gesture, “I think we can overlook the rules, just this once.”

Prissy looked like she might faint, Fairy Godmother was shaking her head vigorously. “Your Highness, I must disagree, this is extremely—”

“We can’t expect them to conform completely to our rules, they just got here.” Ben cut her off. “I imagine things are very different on the Isle. I wouldn’t want to be separated from my loved ones either, if I was brought to a scary new place and just thrown into it without a say.”

“But your Highness—” _Give it a rest, woman_. Uma wanted to hiss.

“I’ve made my decision,” He said. “I’ll have someone tell the staff to bring all of your bags to one of the larger dorms. We’ll move a bed in there too. It may take a little longer to get ready though, so it looks like you’ll be stuck with me until you can properly move in.”

Uma flashed him her best fake smile. “Now you and I are getting somewhere. Guess you’re not so bad.” She wanted him to be bad, she wanted him to be the beast from her nightmares so she could hate him as much as she wanted to, he wasn’t giving her much as far as hatred went.

“You’re approval means the world to me.” She couldn’t detect an ounce of sarcasm, he meant the words. His stare lingered on her lips instead of her eyes while he spoke, which was creepy as fuck. She would have commented on it, except he was staring at Harry and Gil too. Fairy Godmother coughed, and that seemed to break the spell.

“Why don’t we get started on the tour, and I’ll let you know when I get the notification that your room is ready?”

 _Anything to get away from your staring ass_. Uma didn’t like being ogled by anyone but Harry.

“That’d be great,” Uma picked at a hole in her shirt uncomfortably. “Show us where the bathrooms are, while you’re at it. Long limo ride.” Also, she needed a safe place to scream. And possibly throw up, if she had to spend any more time with him.

“I’ll make sure to squeeze it in,” Ben offered her his hand. Prissy elbowed him sharply in the side and he retracted it. The atmosphere dropped several more degrees until Uma expected to see her breath.

Ben’s fingers twitched, as if he had half a mind to try the move again. Uma pointedly linked arms with Harry and Gil. A more effective ‘back the fuck off’ had never been said.

“Let’s go.” Prissy snatched his hand, gaze cutting like a knife towards Uma. She smirked smarmily, as if holding his hand was a grand achievement.

Uma would take her time in making the princess suffer. And she’d enjoy it, very, very much.

Ben led the way across the courtyard when he was halted by Fairy Godmother. Didn’t the woman say she had shit to do elsewhere? Why hadn’t she bibidy-bobitty-booed herself out of here already?

“I’m afraid that,” She crooked a finger at Harry’s hook, “Is a weapon. And therefore not allowed on school property. As are those,” The finger moved to indicate their swords.

Harry tensed beside her and Uma braced herself. Shit was about to hit the fan.

“Listen here you dreadful woman!” Harry started, the beginnings of one of his rants. “You are going to have to rip this hook from my cold, dead, hands. Or lop it off. And I can guarantee neither option ends well for you.”

“Well I never!” Fairy Godmother took a step back, aghast.

Uma hurried to do damage control, Gil placed an arm on Harry’s shoulder to keep him from lunging.

“How dare you speak to me in that manner? Did no one teach you the basic principles of respect?”

 _No. His father got shitfaced and beat him. Respect that, you harpy_.

Uma shoved the vicious thoughts away. “Whoa, let’s all just calm down. Harry, chill.” He backed off almost as soon as she said it, but the stone-cold look on his face said he was not giving up his hook. Not in a million years, and certainly not for these people.

An idea struck her.

She mustered up her most charming smile and directed it at Fairy Godmother. “I am so sorry about him. The hook, it’s just…” She gave an over-exaggerated sigh. “It’s really important to him. It’s all he has to feel connected to his father, y’know? Cause he’s stuck on Isle?”

That was partly true, it was the only thing his father had ever given him—not including the spyglass. But Harry’s obsession with his hook ran infinitely deeper than that.

Not even Uma, who’d known him their whole lives, who was as close to him as two people raised on the Isle could get, completely understood why he was willing to dive headfirst into crocodile infested water for the blasted thing.

“Can you give him some time? I promise by the time the tour’s done we’ll hand over all of our weapons.”

Uma pinched Harry’s arm so he wouldn’t argue.

The sob story about the hook seemed to have done the trick, because Fairy Godmother had all but melted. She wiped at her eyes, as if she was tearing up. “Of course dear. I…I’m so sorry. Just turn your weapons in later and all is forgotten and forgiven.”

On her end maybe, Uma knew Harry neither forgot nor forgave. Ever.

His face split into a razor edged smile, both Fairy Godmother and Prissy looked a little frightened. Ben was perturbed, but not afraid. It pissed her off to no end that they couldn’t seem to get to him.

“I’ll make sure to collect their swords before dropping them off at their room.” Ben assured the woman.

“Good.” She went on to say how the gates of knowledge were never shut, and something about curfews, but Uma tuned out at some point.

She tuned back in when they resumed walking.

When Ben launched into a story about how his father had commissioned for his statue to transform from man to beast to remind his people that anything was possible _yada-yada-yada_ , Uma only half-listened.

He was still staring at her, whenever he thought she wasn’t looking. His eyes roamed every inch of Harry’s face, he hung onto Gil’s every word when he made comments here and there.

If this was what princes were like, she might begin to miss the scum of the Isle.

 


	5. Castles, Princes and Princesses, Oh My! Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The plan to get the wand is on, the faster Uma gets her hands on it the better. She's already sick of the fake kindness and the pretend regret. Auradon was paper-thin plastic, all superficial. The Isle might have been ugly, but at least it felt real.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bon jour my darlings, here is another chapter that I very much enjoyed writing. Little warning, from here on out the story will diverge from cannon. There will still be a lot of D1 elements, such as the plan to get the wand, etc. But I also changed a lot of things up because I wanted to give each of the sea three their own story line. Like how in D1, Carlos got over his fear of dogs, Jay learned to work with others, Evie realized she didn't have to pretend to be dumb, etc. I'm going to flush out the characters more, just because I think Uma, Harry and Gil are extremely fascinating and complex and they deserve to have wholesome character arcs that show how dynamic they are. I also want to flush out the relationship more, because a poly relationship is really intricate and I want to take my time on it. I promise it won't diverge too much ;). On with the story, leave a lovely comment below if you have the time and I hope you enjoy :)

* * *

Twenty minutes into the tour, Uma leaned up and whispered in Gil’s ear. “Distract him,” She said, jutting her chin out at Ben.

Gil nodded, slipping away from the group and picking a direction at random to wander in. He didn’t get far.

“Hey, where are you going?” Ben was at his side in an instant, hand on his shoulder.

Gil looked at it, not knowing whether to brush it off or leave it there.

Princess Snobby—he was pretty sure that was her name—walked up behind him, staring at Gil distastefully. Her expression would morph into false cheeriness whenever Ben would glance at her.

Wow, they had liars in Auradon too. Gil had thought everyone here was supposed to embrace goodness and all that jazz.

On top of being a liar, she was also a faker, and a pretty terrible one.

Over Ben’s shoulder, he could make out Uma and Harry huddled together, talking in hushed tones. Squinting, he saw sea-blue sparks shoot from Uma’s fingertips. She was doing magic.

Gil dragged Ben further away from them, pretending to be interested in the colorful décor adorning the walls. The flashy colors actually gave him a headache, he pushed the nausea down.

“I…uh…just wanted to get a closer look at this suit of armor!” Gil grabbed Ben’s wrist and brought it up to feel the metal. “Here! Feel that! Incredible, right?”

“Very,” Ben said, sounding amused. “Just like the other ten rows.”

Gil winced as he took in the dozens of identical suits lining the wall. Shoot.

Abort. Abort!

“Yeah…well…” A bubble of hysterical laughter escaped him, “It’s my first time seeing them. Not all of us were raised in a castle.”

Ben dimmed a little, smile not quite reaching his eyes anymore. Gil wondered what he’d said, he was constantly putting his foot in his mouth without knowing.

Now would be the time Harry kicked him out of the Chip Shoppe.

“Gil!”

There he was. The son of Hook sidled up next to him and slung an arm around his waist, smirking lazily.

“Is the tour already over? Can I go terrorize some princesses now?” He threw a wink at Gil, “Or princes.”

“Not quite yet,” Ben said, somewhat distractedly. His attention was on Harry’s arm around Gil’s waist. “I’m afraid you’ll have to wait a little longer.”

“Shame,” Harry said disappointedly.

Snobby tugged roughly on Ben’s hand, the one she was still clutching—tightly, like she was trying to keep him on a leash—and he seemed to remember himself.

“Just a few more stops,” He took point again, leading them down another corridor. This one was decorated with flowers and paintings. “I’m sure you’re all tired and eager to check out your room.”

“On the edge of my seat,” Harry drawled. Uma flicked him on the forehead, miming zipping her lips. The son of Hook smartly decided to shut up.

Harry’s left hand drifted up to his neck, playing with Gil’s hair, and that’s when he felt it. Or lack of it.

Harry wasn’t wearing his hook.

Noticing Gil’s wide eyes and horrified expression—because this, this was unimaginable, this was the equivalent of Gaston saying it meant nothing to be buff; inconceivable—Uma leaned in and mouthed the words ‘look at his neck.’

At first he didn’t understand, then sunlight streaming in through the stain glass windows caught on the chain around Harry’s neck.

Harry didn’t wear a chain. Rings, yes. Necklaces, no.

Under the material of his shredded tee, a silver object was peeking out. Upon further inspection, Gil realized it was the hook, shrunk down to miniature size—the same size as Uma’s shell necklace—welded onto the chain. Probably kept there with a spell.

Uma had spelled it into something that could be kept hidden, easily concealed, but there if Harry needed an anchor.

That quick thinking was one of the reasons he respected the hell out of her so much. Gil didn’t think he could be any more in love with her.

He froze at the thought, then tore it up and threw it in his mental trash bin. He was from the Isle, he couldn’t love anyone. It was rule number one. He’d abided by it since he was a kid.

No more thinking about the Isle. He was off. He was gone. This was his home now.

“Here’s the bathroom I promised you,” Ben made a grand sweeping motion, grinning goofily.

Uma made a face like she wanted to tear off his face. Her smile was plastic, glaringly fake to anyone who knew her. Luckily, no one here did.

“Great,” She stalked through the door marked ‘ladies’.

Harry followed her, beckoning for Gil to follow him.

“Wait, that’s—” The door swung closed. Ben sighed heavily, bone-deep and exhausted. “The women’s bathroom.” He finished, gaze sad. What did he have to be sad about? He lived in a freaking castle!

“What a bunch of ogres!” Snobby said snootily. Gil’s eyes narrowed, she was trashing his friends right in front of him. What. The. Heck. She hadn’t even known them for a day.

“Honestly, Benny-boo. What were you thinking? I told you this was a terrible idea! Those kids are bad news! They don’t respect the rules, they carry swords, and I’m pretty sure the one with the guyliner is gay.”

“Why would you think that?” Ben asked, puzzled.

“He didn’t look at me once!” Snobby huffed. “I say you ship them back to the Isle and forget the whole thing. They’re obviously lost causes, the _kids_ of villains!”

“One, you don’t know he’s gay. Two, so what if he is? Sexuality determines whether you’re bad or not? That’d make a lot of students at Auradon Prep evil.”

“You’re not listening to me, Benny-boo.” Tears started welling up, dripping down her fake lashes and smudging her fifteen pounds of mascara. Gil chose that moment to make himself known.

“Hey guys,” They both jumped. He waggled his fingers sheepishly, “Still here. And Harry doesn’t look at you because you’re nothing special. You’re mean and snobby and Uma is ten times better than you. Next time you wanna talk shit about people, wait for all of them to leave.”

He pushed into the bathroom, catching wisps of Uma and Harry’s conversation. “And they think _I’m_ dumb.”

“Who thinks you’re dumb?” Harry asked as the door shut behind him. “Not that they’re wrong. But only Uma and I are allowed to call you that to your face.”

“Aw, stop it, you’re gonna make me blush.”

“I like it when you blush.” Harry hopped up on the sink and crossed his legs.

Gil felt his cheeks flush red. Harry beamed triumphantly. “See? Positively adorable.”

“Yes, yes, you’re both cute.” Uma sagged against one of the stall doors, swinging on its hinges. “I don’t know how much more I can take.”

“Should we tell him we’re tired?” Gil suggested, “Hand over our swords and just hang around here till our room’s ready?” He added, “Sick idea by the way, turning his hook into a necklace.”

Uma smiled proudly, “You like it? A simple shrinking spell, and then a binding spell so it never comes off.”

Harry held up the chain like a prize, “Ingenious, isn’t she?” He blew a kiss at Uma, “You never cease to amaze me.”

“I hope I never will,” She looked at the floor as she said it, like she was admitting some big, dark secret. She switched topics before Harry had the chance to answer. “We need to get away from Prince I-save-cats-from-trees and his bitchy girlfriend. Any ideas?”

There was a pause and then Harry’s eyes lit up. “I have an idea.”

“We’re not murdering anyone.”

His shoulders drooped, “I don’t have an idea.”

“Gods’ sakes, Harry.” Uma pinched the bridge of her nose, “Not all of our plans need to involve murder.”

“Just the main one, right?” He seemed to panic, “I will get to kill someone when we take over Auradon, right?”

“As many someones as you want,” Uma assured. “I’ve got a long list of people that need to die in order for us to rule.”

Gil’s brows furrowed, “We just got here.” He said, how could she have come up with a hit-list of people to bump off that fast?

Uma shrugged, “I’ve already met a bunch of people I hate. What can I say, I’m surrounded by halfwits who think dressing in vintage and knowing how many different types of spoons there are makes them better than us.”

“There are different types of spoons?” She was blowing Gil’s mind. It was a regular occurrence.

“And you did all this while he was giving us the tour?”

“I’m good at multitasking,” Uma defended. “Also, I didn’t give a shit about the crap he was saying.”

“Something we can both agree on,” Harry said.

There was banging on the door.

“You guys have been in there a while,” Ben’s voice came through, muffled. “Are you okay? Need anything? I can send Audrey in—”

There was an outraged shriek.

“Or I can come in myself. Is everyone decent?”

“What, does he think we’re stripping in here?” Harry rolled his eyes. Uma shouted, “We’re fine. Coming out now.”

She turned on the sink so the sound of the water running would make him think she was washing her hands, turning it back off, she motioned for them to huddle together.

“I’m gonna start talking,” She said. “Go along with whatever I say.”

“I usually do,” Harry replied.

“I do or else you get mad at me,” Gil scratched his chin, “Actually, no, you get mad at me because I screw up what you say.”

His history of screw-ups was a rap-sheet three pages long, he couldn’t fault her for being cautious.

“Come on,” She pulled them by their ears.

Ben was standing right outside the door, close enough to be creepy. Gil felt weirded out by the fact that they’d been talking and he’d been pressed up against the dry-wood listening to them.

“I think we’re gonna have to leave off here,” Uma said, tone dripping false disappointment.

Ben’s disappointment was real, and palpable. Gil almost felt bad for the guy, almost, then he remembered his father had thrown his father off a tower to his death, and the bitterness came back.

“Why? Is everything okay? Do you need anything?”

“Just sleep,” Uma said, which wasn’t a total lie, because Gil actually was tired. “We’re gonna head up to our room and crash, but we appreciate the tour. Thanks for showing us around.” The tightness around her mouth said she was everything but thankful.

“You’re very welcome,” Ben said, still looking crestfallen. “Are you sure there’s nothing else you need? Oh, I’ll show you to your room.”

His smile returned at the opportunity to spend more time with them, something that threw Gil off, because why was a prince who probably had other things to do so desperate to hang around them?

Snobby—er, Audrey, looked displeased at the idea. She wasn’t shy about voicing her displeasure. “Benny-boo, we were supposed to go to lunch.”

“When did we plan that?” Ben inquired.

“Right now, it’s stuffy in here, let’s go outside. Nice meeting all of you.” She rushed to grab his hand and pull him away. He calmly shrugged her off and came back.

“How about it?” He asked. His phone beeped in his pocket, Gil had never seen a phone, but he’d find remnants of electronics on the barges back on the Isle. Ben checked the screen and his smiled brightened. “Perfect timing. I just got the notification from the staff that your room is ready.” He glanced at Uma, “Shall we?”

Gil watched her suppress an eye-roll, sticking a cringe-worthy grin on her face. It looked painful. “We shall.”

He led them to the third floor, where all the dorms were located, Audrey unhappily tagging along.

He stopped at the one numbered 306.

“This is you,” He opened the door for them.

Uma arched an eyebrow but stepped inside, Harry after her, brushing past Ben without another glance. Gil was a little more polite about it. They had to be convincing, after all, and Uma was tired and Harry wasn’t even trying.

“Thanks,” He said, confused when Ben didn’t immediately leave.

“Your keys to get in are on the table.”

Gil followed his gaze to where three metallic keys lay, sparkling a vivid gold color. Uma picked them up and handed one to each of them. He stuffed it in his pocket and turned back to Ben.

“Well, that’s it, I guess.” Except he still didn’t leave.

Harry, who’d been too busy ogling the room until now, came up beside Gil. His hand clenching the doorknob, he bared his teeth in the unhinged parody of a smile.

“Okay, great, bye.”

“Wait, if you want to know anything else—”

He slammed the door in the prince’s face.

“Whew, thank the Gods’ that’s over with.” He sauntered over to one of the beds and threw himself on the mattress. “Tic Toc was less insufferable.”

“This room is huge!” Gil marveled, taking his first good look at it. It was easily six times bigger than his cabin back on the ‘Lost Revenge.’

“I know,” Uma sounded angry. “We have to sleep on the ground and live with rocks for pillows and they get rooms like these?” She shook her head, practically spewing venom. “How can they live with themselves?”

“Apparently quite comfortably,” Harry replied, sinking into the comforter.

“I’m guessing you claim that bed as your own?” Uma crossed her arms.

“No, I’m just letting it swallow me up for the hell of it. I actually intend to sleep on the floor.”

“Seriously?” Gil frowned.

“He’s kidding,” Uma said.

“I’m not so sure myself yet,” Harry raised his head, peering at the pillow like he was trying to decipher it. “This bed is too soft.”

Uma threw her hands up, “You’re complaining about the softness of the bed?”

“Back on the ‘Revenge’ I slept on a lumpy mattress. Before that I slept on the deck of my father’s ship. Sometimes I slept on the hard ground in alleys.” There was a terse silence, “I’m not used to comfort.”

None of them were. Gil didn’t think he’d be able to sleep on a marshmallow cloud either, despite how tempting it looked.

“If you want, we can strip the sheets off the beds and bunk out on the floor.” Gil scuffed the carpet with his boot, “It’s carpeted.”

“You do that,” Uma pointed to the bed that was closest to the window. “This one’s mine.”

“I’ll take the one near the door,” Gil nodded. That way if anyone tried to break in, he could play his role and protect them. Not that they needed it, but that was where his mind automatically went.

Harry flipped off the bed, “Time to unpack.” Their bags were lying in the middle of the room. It took Gil thirty minutes to unload his stuff, it took Uma forty. The sky was starting to darken by the time Harry finished putting everything in his closet. They all had their own personal ones.

“What time is it?” Gil asked Uma.

She glanced at the wall clock, “Around six.”

“You think they feed us here?” Gil felt his stomach rumble and tried to mask it by bouncing on the mattress.

“They have to,” Harry said. “They can’t let us starve.”

“They had no problem doing that when we were on the Isle,” Uma reminded him.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. Uma motioned for Harry to get it.

He sighed and yanked it open, with more force than necessary.

Ben stood there, a duffel in his hands. His smile was the same as when he’d dropped them off earlier.

“I forgot to collect your swords earlier,” He looked embarrassed. “Stupid of me. Would you mind?”

“Very much,” Harry said, “But you’re going to demand we give you our weapons anyway, so why ask?”

“Well I—”

Uma waved her hand for Harry to step aside and gestured for them to pass over their swords. Gil felt semi-naked without it, Harry looked like he felt fully naked.

“Here,” She dumped them in the bag.

It seemed the Gods’ were on their side, because Ben didn’t seem to remember Harry’s hook. He hefted the duffel on his shoulder. “Were you guys planning on coming to dinner? I can walk you if you want?”

Dinner. The word alone made Gil’s stomach rumble louder.

They’re gazes swiveled to him. He shrugged sheepishly.

“There’s your answer,” Uma said, meeting their eyes to see if they were okay with it. She already knew Gil’s answer.

Harry stared at her, then at him, then he sighed like someone was killing him slowly. “Fine.”

“Great,” Ben said, looking like they’d just made his day. “Follow me.”

They kept their distance, of course, they were unfamiliar with the halls of Auradon Prep and he was holding all of their weapons. After locking the door, Uma made sure the three of them stayed exactly a few feet behind Ben, in case he tried anything.

“No need to be shy,” said Ben, completely misinterpreting their measured distance. They stopped in front of a set of wide-open double doors. A delicious smell hit his nose, nothing like food on the Isle smelled. Gil would have broken into a run to see what it was, but Uma’s expression was cautious, so he held back.

Leading them into the room, it was easily twice the size of some of the biggest houses on the Isle. Long steel tables, flower vase center-pieces, chairs with cushions and elaborate patterns painted the walls. All the tables were filled out, people were sitting and eating and laughing, the polar opposite of the Isle.

No one looked like they were worried their food would be taken away, no one ate fast to keep it for themselves. No one looked troubled at all.

Gil didn’t understand.

“Dinner started a while ago, so the line must have dwindled down.” Ben handed them trays and took one for himself.

He showed them to a long, marble counter where a row of mouth-watering dishes resided, forks and spoons and knives on the side. There was another counter with labelled bottles. One said ‘lemonade’. Another was ‘Iced Tea.’ One said ‘Pink Lemonade.’ And the last said ‘water.’

There was so much. Gil wanted to try it all, take it all, quick and lightning fast so no one could steal it from him. Except no one looked like they were going to.

Ben took a little food from each dish until his tray was full, then he filled up a tall glass with water and ice. “Dinner starts at six. It’s six-thirty now, which is why there’s no line. Typically, it’s a lot more crowded.” He spoke like these were things they needed to know, Gil wondered how much useless stuff Auradonians thought held any importance at all.

Clearly, none of them had ever been on the verge of starving.

“Lunch lasts an hour. It starts at twelve and ends at one. You have ten minutes in between to get to your next class. Classes end at three-thirty and extracurriculars begin at four. I won’t go into too much detail, but after dinner another student will meet you at your room and give you the school hand book, as well as your schedules. His name is Doug. If you have any other concerns feel free to ask me. Or him.” He added the last part like he’d almost forgotten to include it.

With that, his posture relaxed and he smiled. “Grab whatever you want and come join me at my table. If you want. Only if you want. Please. Er, uh, not please. I mean…” He scratched the back of his neck, weren’t princes supposed to be eloquent?

Gil just wanted at the food. Ben needed to stop talking. He wondered if Uma would approve of gagging him. Or having Harry gag him. Whatever got him to shut up and got Gil to those plates faster.

“Just please sit with me and my friends at our dinner table so I don’t look like a total sputtering idiot.” Ben said finally.

“Too late,” Harry muttered.

“Sure.” Uma said, “Go sit and we’ll join you in a minute.”

Practically glowing with joy, Ben turned and headed towards a large table in the far corner. Gil made out two people coming to meet him halfway, they did not look happy.

“And go,” Uma spun on her heel and bolted for the double doors. Gil and Harry exchanged a glance and followed her.

“What’s wrong?” Gil asked, already missing the delicious aroma of the room. Out in the hallway, it was cold and odorless. “I thought we were eating?”

“Not with him and definitely not with his holier than thou friends.” Uma said, “Besides, there’s a good chance they poisoned the food. I didn’t touch anything in the limo and I’m certainly not touching anything here.”

“Smart. Clever.” Harry adjusted his hat, it’d slipped a little when they’d dashed after Uma. “Guess this isn’t so different from the Isle. We’re still starving.”

As if knowing it was going to be running on empty, Gil’s stomach grumbled in protest. He pressed a hand to it, ignoring the hunger. It always passed after a bit. Uma was right, all the food here could be poisoned. They had no reason to trust these people.

“We’re not,” Uma did a sweep of the hallway. “Come on.”

Back in their room, Uma cast an unbreakable lock spell on the door, then sat down on the floor. Gil and Harry joined her, forming a circle.

She closed her eyes and clutched her necklace. “As I draw power from the rise and fall of the tide, give us the food we need to survive.”

Out of thin air, three metallic trays appeared.

Gil poked at his tray in awe, it was an Ursula’s Fish and Chips tray, the exact same food he always ordered from the restaurant. How the hell?

“Captain?” Harry eyed the tray, “Pardon my skepticism, but _what_?”

“I don’t know,” Uma looked just as surprised as Harry. “When I said the spell, I was picturing the Chip Shoppe. I guess it just…” She made a vague motion with her hand, “Took it from there and _voila_.”

“I’m not complaining,” Gil grabbed a handful of yokes and stuffed them in his mouth. There was nothing off about the taste so he figured it was good to eat. He swallowed before going for another bite.

“Not eating?” He asked them.

Harry popped a fry in his mouth. Licking his fingers, he said, “Well, guess that necklace can do more than just heal scars.”

Uma nodded distractedly, fingers tapping against the tray as she thought. Polishing off the last of his yokes, Gil frowned and went to start on the fries when Uma shoved her yokes onto his tray. He felt something warm swell up in his chest, something odd and foreign that he couldn’t put a name to. But it didn’t matter because they had never cared about labels.

Harry finished his fries and pushed his tray at Gil, letting him take his share of yokes too before yanking the tray back.

“That’s it!” Uma said, causing Gil to drop his yokes and Harry to choke on a fry. She patted him on the shoulder, almost absently, like she didn’t know she was doing it. “That’s how it works. In the limo, when I healed your back I was imagining it. And just now I was picturing the Chip Shoppe. I say the spell while I envision what I want it to do, and it happens.”

There was quiet while the both of them processed the information.

Harry broke the stunned silence, “Brilliant.” He said, “So you can basically do whatever you want.” His eyes lit up, “Can you summon the wand to you? Is that something you can do?”

“I don’t know,” Uma shot to her feet. She fisted the shell in her palm, “By the power given to me by all the oceans in the land, bring Fairy Godmother’s wand to my hand.”

Nothing happened.

Uma growled and kicked the post of the bed nearest to her. Stomping her foot, she plopped back down on the carpet. “Should’ve known that wouldn’t work,” She analysed the necklace carefully, “It’d have been too easy. These Auradon fools may be stupid, but they’re not suicidal. Obviously one of the most powerful items in the land would have some kind of protection.”

“We know where it is,” Harry offered, brushing aside the failed attempt. He always did that, Gil had the sneaking feeling it was because he didn’t want Uma to dwell on her failings and beat herself up about them. “Why don’t we go get it, tonight? The sooner the better.” He pulled the spyglass from his pocket.

“Show me the museum of cultural history.” Gil abandoned his food and sidled up close to Harry. Uma did the same on his other side. “Show me where the wand is located.” A few beats went by where Harry said nothing.

“Got it!” He grinned, passing the spyglass to Uma.

“It’s on the fifth floor.” She said, letting Gil take a look himself. The wand didn’t seem like anything special, it was very sparkly, but that was about it. Gil had been expecting…well, more.

“FG said the museum’s two-point-three miles from here, if we run it we might get spotted, not to mention we’d be left exposed out in the open with no knowledge of the land layout.” Uma bit her lip thoughtfully, “Maybe if we stole a car—”

There was a knock at the door.

“Again?” Harry crowed, “What the bloody hell does it take to get some peace and quiet with these people?”

“Evidently, more than one keep-out spell.” Uma sighed, standing to get the door. “I’ll cast two next time.”

She opened it, on the other side stood a lanky boy with glasses holding three baskets in his hand. He was wearing a band uniform and a bowtie.

“Hi, my name is Doug. I’m Dopey’s son. As in heigh-ho, heigh-ho.” He paused as if he’d expected them to laugh. When none of them did, he cleared his throat and continued. “Right. Uh, I’m your designated Auradon Prep guide. Anything you need regarding classes or schedule switches, you can ask me.” He handed Uma the three baskets. “In there are your schedules, the school rule book, and course outlines.”

Uma passed the baskets to Harry to hold. He sniffed them as if he expected to find a bomb or something before passing them to Gil. Shrugging, Gil tossed them on his bed. Doug winced at the action.

“Well, ah, that’s my pitch.” He swallowed nervously, “I’ll give you a brief rundown of your classes and then I’ll be out of your hair. Sorry if I caught you at a bad time or if I’m bothering you.”

“You Auradonians bother me just by breathing.” Harry said. Uma elbowed him sharply, but didn’t deny it.

“Alrighty then,” Doug squirmed, looking extremely uncomfortable. He glanced up and down the hallway, as if he had half a mind to cut and run. Gil couldn’t blame the poor guy, Harry and Uma were terrifying if you were on the wrong side of them.

“So, uh, I put in the requirements already. You’ve got your basics; calculus, literature, biology and chemistry. Then there’s Auradonian history, as well as a history of woodsmen and pirates—”

Harry’s face split into a smile at that and Doug stuttered, flushing red.

“Safety rules for the internet, and then, ah…” His voice cracked, “Remedial goodness 101.”

“Great,” Harry said, “Now I have a list of all the classes I won’t be going to.”

“Remedial goodness?” Uma pretended he hadn’t spoken, “If that’s not a new class created especially for us I’ll eat a plate of calamari.”

“She hates calamari,” Gil interjected, trying to convey the gravity of the situation to Doug. “Seriously, you don’t know how big of a deal this is.”

Doug stared at him strangely, giving Gil a deciphering look, like he was trying to figure something out. Gil didn’t want to be figured out, he liked himself the way he was.

“Is that it?” He asked, hoping to get the guy to leave. “Are we good?”

“Yeah,” Doug shook his head as if dispelling thoughts he didn’t want. “You’re good. If you need anything just let me know. You can usually find me in the band room, or robotics lab. Have a good evening.”

“You too,” said Uma, hand hovering over the door knob like she was itching to slam it closed. With a little wave Doug left, and Gil could breathe easy again.

Harry scooped up the discarded baskets and settled with them on the floor. He picked up the one with his name on it. “Seven classes?” He frowned, unfolding a sheet of blue paper. “These lunatics expect me to wake up at this ungodly hour every morning? What is this, cruel and unusual torture? They might all be ogres but I need my damn beauty sleep.”

“Put a sock in it, drama queen.” Uma sat next to him and checked her own. She pulled out a thick binder labelled ‘rules’ and flung it across the room. “Won’t be needing that.” She said.

Emptying the contents of his basket, Gil scanned his schedule and wondered if they all had the same classes. Gods’ did he hope they did. Peering over Harry’s shoulder, he made a checklist of all the classes they had together. They had all but two; literature and biology were different.

His schedule was plucked out of his hands, Uma laid all three of them out on the floor and started counting them off.

“We’ve got remedial goodness together; shocker.” She rolled her eyes, “Calculus, Auradonian history and safety rules for the internet. Harry and I have biology together. Gil has it alone.”

A pit of something dark and toothed opened up in his gut, cracking him wide-open. It felt all-encompassing, swallowing him up and drowning him until he was left broken and used and abandoned and _alone_ , _alone_ , _alone_ —

Uma’s hand came down on his neck, while Harry braced his shoulder. They didn’t let go until his breathing evened out and the room stopped spinning.

“Thanks,” He told them, aware he’d almost had a full-blown panic attack. He hated looking weak in front of them, because while they never said it there was always the possibility they could decide he wasn’t worth all the trouble and get rid of him. He should make sure to keep a lid on all his vulnerabilities, but by the Gods’ he couldn’t stand the idea of not being with them twenty-four seven.

“Hey, easy.” Uma said, before continuing. “You and I have literature together. Harry’s got that alone.”

Gil might have a nervous breakdown at the thought of spending a whole class apart from Uma and Harry, but that was nothing compared to what Harry would do without them. He’d burn the school down, skin the students, he’d turn all of Auradon to ash without Uma there to reign him in and Gil there to calm him down.

An expression of living fury crossed Harry’s face, and Gil shot a look at his captain. No way in hell this was happening.

“Then you and Harry have chemistry together and I’ve got that alone. Thankfully,” She folded up all three slips of paper. “We’ll have gotten the wand and made all of these so-called heroes our minions before we’ll ever have to sit through one of Fairy Godmother’s remedial goodness classes.”

“Oh how I loathe that woman,” Harry shuddered in disgust.

“Do whatever you want to her when we take over the world,” Uma told him. “Now let’s get back to plotting how we’re going to steal the wand.”

“Before the dwarf interrupted our nefarious scheming there was mention of stealing a car. Which I am all for.” Harry smirked.

“He’s the son of a dwarf, not an actual dwarf.” Gil said, thinking about how Doug had actually been normal height.

“Before the dwarf _kin_ interrupted our nefarious scheming there was mention of stealing a car. Which,” Harry corrected himself dryly. “I’m still all for.”

“How do we get our hands on a car?” Gil asked, it wasn’t like they couldn’t just make one appear out of thin air.

Wait.

They could. At least, Uma could.

Gil leapt to his feet, “Your necklace!” He exclaimed, “Say a spell, picture a car and we have our ride.”

“Gil, you’re a genius.” Uma suddenly looked vaguely nauseous, “Crap, that’s not something I ever thought I’d say.”

It was dark outside when they sped into the courtyard. Uma closed her eyes and chanted, “My magic granted to me by all the bodies of water here, make a car appear.”

A sleek, turquoise limo materialized.

“Why that color?” Gil asked.

“It just popped into my head,” Uma said.

“Why a limo?”

“It’s the only car I’ve ever seen.”

“I’m driving!” Harry shouted, making a beeline for the drivers’ side door. Uma huffed in annoyance and climbed into the passengers’ seat. Gil got in the back, noticing this limo was a perfect replica of the other one. Minus the jars of candy, the divider, and the six burly men in suits who’d disliked them.

“You don’t know how to drive.” Uma glanced at Harry.

“Neither do you. How hard could it be?” Harry stared at the ignition, “I have to turn the key to make it go, right?”

“Yes,” Uma said. “It’s already there. Just turn it.” She whispered something and the air in the limo grew shimmery, brightened with the touch of magic.

“Whoa,” Gil blinked in astonishment. “What was that?”

“A spell to hide us from sight,” Uma said, tucking her necklace back into her shirt. “We don’t want to be seen or caught on camera. Harry, floor it.”

The son of Hook pressed on the gas with all of his force. Uma gripped his arm and shouted, “Not that much—”

Gil was thrown into the seat behind him as the car went barreling down the road at a speed that would for sure kill them. He curled in on himself and held on for dear life.

He’d always known Harry would be the death of him.


	6. Operation Get the Wand

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Discoveries are made, plans need to be re-made, and Harry might need to start drinking before 6 am if he's going to get through all of it. Uma just wishes shit actually went their way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello loves. I'm back with another chapter. As always thank you for your beautiful comments and please feel free to leave more:) Comments = love! Hearing your thoughts make my day and warm me up when the weather is awful. And the weather is really awful right now so I might need to invest in more hot chocolate. On with the story and have a wonderful day <3

* * *

“Harry, if you wrap us around a pole—”

“Don’t be silly, there are no poles on this street.”

“Slow down!” Uma yelled, fisting the material of his sleeve. “Or so help me I will make sure they never find your body.”

“That’ll be impossible because you’ll be dead too,” Gil said matter-of-factly from the backseat, sounding queasy like he was going to throw-up. “We’ll all be dead. Oh Gods’ we’re all going to die.”

“You’ve lived a good life,” Harry said over the roaring in his ears. He really should ease off the gas, but now wasn’t the time to tell them he didn’t know how to brake. Whoops. Maybe he should have let Uma drive.

“I’m only seventeen!”

“I said good; not long.”

“Stop with the blabbering and focus on the fucking road!” Uma cried, clawing one of his hands away from the wheel so she could get a handle on it. “I should have driven.”

“That’s becoming abundantly clear, isn’t it?”

“Hit the brakes!”

He was trying, it wasn’t his fault these blasted cars didn’t come with a manual. Or that he hadn’t had the time to read it. Not that he would have bothered reading it if he’d had the time. “Ming telling me where those are?”

“The pedal on the left!” Uma instructed, “And take your foot off the gas! Slowly!”

Harry took his weight off the gas inch by inch, sighing in relief when the car started slowing down. Fumbling with his foot, he pressed on the brakes and the limo came to an abrupt stop.

Unfortunately, he’d hit the brakes too fast.

The jolt sent Gil sailing between the seats and face-first into the dashboard. Thankfully, he didn’t go through the glass. The whiplash made Harry’s head spin, as well as leaving his neck horrendously sore.

Uma made sure Gil was okay before turning to Harry and punching him hard in the shoulder, “You fucking idiot! I said slowly!”

“You said to take my foot off the gas slowly, which I did. You said nothing about the brakes.”

“Shut up! And lean forward,” At first Harry thought she was going to slap him, but she just tilted his head back and forth, inspecting his face. “Are you hurt?”

“Just my pride.”

“You’ve got too much of that,” Uma said, but there was clear relief in her voice. Harry instantly felt terrible for worrying her, and for putting her in danger. Though she’d deny the former.

“Gil!” Harry remembered the blond crumpled up on the dashboard. He frisked him, searching for injuries. “Are you alright?”

“I’m alive,” Gil mumbled, lifting his head up as if to say ‘see’.

“Hurt anywhere?”

“I don’t think so,” He propped himself up and slid into the small space between Uma’s feet. Harry didn’t know how he fit.

“Better to be sure,” Uma laid a hand flat on Gil’s chest and muttered the healing spell. Once that was done, she did the same to Harry. “Now, we gotta figure out where we are.”

Harry nodded and palmed his spyglass. “Show me where we are.” A map of the area appeared before his eyes, Harry zoomed in to get a look at the street name. “We’re on Kingscrossing.”

“Because that helps so much.” Uma said sarcastically.

Gil frowned, “Really? How does that help?”

“How far are we from the museum of cultural history?” Harry inquired, ignoring Gil. When the image stayed the same, he rephrased. “Show me how far we are from the museum of cultural history.”

A dotted line highlighted that they were close, within walking distance. "I think we can walk the rest of the way.” Harry put away the spyglass, “It’s not far, fifteen minutes if we run?”

“We’ll stick to the shadows,” Uma agreed. “Stay close to the trees. Auradon Prep’s a school of idiots, but I think even they would have people patrolling the grounds. We need to be careful.”

“What about the car?” Gil asked.

“It’s invisible to everyone but us,” Uma said, climbing out.

“That’s awesome,” The blonde grinned. An idea dawned on Harry, “Can you use that nifty little spell to make us invisible too?”

“I don’t think I should be using heavy-duty magic on people yet,” She held up the necklace, “Inanimate objects, sure. Healing injuries, why not. But what if by trying to make you invisible, I make you disappear? Magic is fickle, if you’re not clear enough or if you don’t say the right words…” She trailed off.

Harry shivered at the thought of blinking out of existence, happy he didn’t have to worry about things like that. He was grateful he didn’t have magic, it sounded like a lot of work to control and Harry didn’t have the patience or the mental stability.

“I am so glad I don’t have to worry about that shit,” At Uma’s glare he realized he’d spoken out loud. “Crap, I thought that was in my head.”

“Keep it in your head next time,” Uma retorted. She spun on her heel, “Let’s go.”

Years of running for their lives on the Isle had left them with top-notch cardio, Harry had once run the entire length of the docks all the way to Dragon Hall to escape from one of the Goblins after he’d stolen something from the barges. To run was to survive, so that was what they did.

They ducked low when they reached the museum, creeping up the steps.

“It’s locked,” Gil said, giving the door handles a firm shake. Uma nudged him to the side, “Of course it is, these Auradonians can’t be completely brain dead.”

“I disagree,” Harry glanced around, stuffing his hands in his pockets to stave off the chill. It was cold enough for him to see his breath and he was out here sleeveless. Wonderful. “I haven’t seen a single security guard, so I assume they must be lacking in the brain cells department.”

As if summoned by Harry’s badmouthing, a guard strolled into the room then.

Gil yelped and Uma grabbed his arm and pulled him down, Harry dropped onto his knees beside them.

“You were saying?” Harry shot Gil an unamused scowl.

“Crap,” Uma hissed. She motioned for them to stay kneeling and peeked through the small window. “He’s sitting in front of these computer monitors. There’s no way to get past him. Unless…”

She closed her eyes, “Using the power that is mine to keep, put that man to sleep.”

The man collapsed and fell out of his chair the moment the words left her lips. At first Harry thought the spell had gone wrong and he was dead, which really didn’t faze him, but then he started snoring loudly.

Uma grinned wickedly, “Like a charm.”

“What happened to not using heavy-duty magic on people?” Harry asked.

“Let me re-phrase, I shouldn’t use heavy-duty magic on people I give a shit about.”

“So basically me and Gil?”

“Yeah.”

“So everyone else is fair game?”

“I’m not going to go around cursing people, Harry.”

“Damn it, fine.”

“The door’s still locked,” Gil said, interrupting them and giving the handle another shove.

“Draw from my fury, destroy the block. Make this lock unlock.”

There was a _click_ and then the door gave way. Uma pushed it open and sauntered in, the walk of a queen who owned the place.

She was definitely a queen in Harry’s book, and soon enough she would own Auradon. Their flag would be everywhere, they’d have everything. He could hardly wait.

“I think these monitors are recording us,” Gil said. Harry walked up to him, “What makes you think that?”

“There’s a blinking red light on that screen and the word ‘recording’ is flashing.” Gil pointed.

Harry smacked him lightly upside the head, “What a genius.”

“Guys,” Uma scolded. “Focus. Harry, get us to the wand.”

Harry nodded and muttered to the spyglass. A scheme of the building popped up, the path to the wand glowing gold and silver. “It’s on the fifth floor—”

“We already knew that.”

“This way,” Harry started leading them. Uma halted him with a hand on his elbow. “Wait,” She uttered a few words and all of the electricity went out.

“What?” Gil reached blindly for Harry’s wrist in the dark. “Did lightening hit the power lines or something?”

“That wasn’t lightening, that was our captain.” Harry stared at Uma in awe, or where he thought she was, he couldn’t see her. “Brilliant.”

“How many times have you said that to me today?” Uma joked.

“Not nearly enough, love.” He had the oddest feeling that if he had been able to see her, she would have been blushing and looking away.

“C’mon,” She gripped his hand and Gil’s, letting him take point. “That sleep spell won’t last forever. Neither will the one I used to cut the power.”

“That means the cameras don’t work, right?”

“That’s the idea,” Uma told Gil dryly. “Otherwise I just made it really easy for us to trip and fall flat on our faces.”

Harry brought the spyglass back to his eye, “Left. Up this flight of stairs and then right at the hall of villains.”

Hall of villains? What? Were these people so sick they had statues of their parents on display? And they were the good guys? What. The. Literal. Hell.

“Whoa,” Gil said, and Harry lowered the spyglass to see what the fuss was about. The sight struck him cold, leaving him frigid with ice in his veins.

Lit up by a strange yellow glow were the statues of every villain who ever lived. It was terrifying, truly terrifying, and for a moment Harry worried that his father’s statue would come to life and attack him.

He waited for the sound of metal scraping metal; hook on sword, waited for the harsh words and the drunken threats and the rushing of air as his father raised his fist and—

Nothing came. A tugging on his arm dragged his attention away from his father’s statue and to Uma, whose eyes were serious and level.

“Hey,” she whispered, caressing his cheek. “You with me?”

All he could do was nod. “Good. Stay with me. Here. It’s just you and me and Gil. Nothing can hurt us. They can’t hurt us. He can’t touch you.”

“I know,” Harry felt something shudder within him and boarded that part of himself up. There was no room for weakness here. Not now. “Let’s just get the wand and get out.”

Uma had to pull Gil out of the room, the blonde was struck silent, mouth rounded in an ‘o’ and face pale. She leaned in and mumbled something to him, something soothing probably, because some of the tension left his shoulders.

Ignoring the growing pit in his stomach that hadn’t vanished since he’d left the Isle and had only gotten deeper since coming to Auradon, Harry found the fifth floor landing where the wand stood in a glass display case.

Thoughts of his father were pushed to the side. “There it is.” Having done its work, he slipped the spyglass into his pocket and sprinted down the stairs.

“Harry!” Uma called after him.

He stopped with his hand hovering an inch above the wand, glancing back at her. “What?”

“There could be a force field around it,” She said a spell and the air surrounding the wand turned a sparkling blue. A sickly pale pastel color, the same as that Gods’ awful dress Fairy Godmother had been wearing today. This must’ve been her handiwork. The barrier around the Isle shimmered like that too.

“Damn it,” He hissed. “Now what?”

“Stand back,” Uma brought both hands up on either side of the wand. “I’m gonna try to break the enchantment.”

Gil braced his arm and pulled him back a few feet, they stood shoulder to shoulder, watching Uma cast spell after spell. They all seemed to either bounce off the force field or just get absorbed by it.

“Fuck,” She abandoned the attempt. “The magic’s too concentrated. It’s like the barrier around the Isle times ten. There’s no way to get at it.” Her hands balled into fists, “We’re going to have to try something else.”

“I have an idea.” Gil said.

“A crane won’t work.” Uma shot back.

“Not a crane.”

“Neither will a wrecking ball.”

“Not that either—”

“Bloody, just let him finish please?” Harry rubbed a hand over his face, feeling the beginnings of a headache coming on.

“Remember when we tried to steal from Frollo’s creperie?” Gil took Harry’s exasperation as the universal sign for ‘please carry on’. “What did his daughter tell us?”

“Stop tainting the air with your presence, you damned heathens?”  Harry guessed. “Chip off the old black, that one.”

“No, after that.” Uma looked intrigued now. Gil continued, “She said, ‘if you’re going to commit a sin, do it correctly next time. Don’t break in, break what you want out.’”

Uma’s face split into a grin, “Pull the wand to me. Gil, you’re a genius.” She paused, startled. “That’s twice now I call you that.”

“Is the world ending?” Harry glanced up at the ceiling to make sure it wasn’t falling.

“Maybe the magic in the air’s affecting my brain,” Gil touched his head in amazement.

“Magic doesn’t work like that.” Uma brought her hands back up. “Listen to my decree, pull the wand free.”

The wand started vibrating, like a magnetic force was pulling it towards Uma while another was keeping it in place. There was a shift in the air, thick and choking and charged with what could only be magic. Pure, unadulterated magic. It spilled out into the room, stealing all of the oxygen. Harry felt like his windpipe was being crushed.

“Uma.” His voice was weak; strained, he could barely hear it over the buzzing in his ears. Oh Gods’, he couldn’t breathe. “Captain.”

“I’ve almost got it,” He latched onto her voice, trying to pour all of his focus into that, trying to calm the hell down. Evidently, it wasn’t working.

“A few more seconds, I can almost grab it—”

“Uma!” That wasn’t him, it was Gil. Harry could barely get his mouth to move, black spots were dancing in his vision. Everything was spinning, getting darker. Someone’s hand was on his arm, someone was squeezing him, because breathing wasn’t difficult enough already—

“Uma, he’s gonna pass out—”

There was a muttered swear word, a sharp intake of breath, Harry almost wanted to pass out at this point—

A deafening shriek filled his ears, cutting through the buzzing like a sword. It sounded like an alarm.

It was an alarm.

“Crap!” He didn’t know if that was Gil or Uma, his sight was still blurry. “We gotta go!”

Harry felt himself get dragged forward, someone’s arm wrapped around his waist. They were hightailing it down the stairs before he had the time to blink. Even blinking took effort, and more energy than he had. He felt utterly drained. Every bit of distance they put between themselves and the wand helped.

“The guard’s waking up! _Harry_!” He felt the grip around his waist loosen and suddenly everything was shifting sideways. Someone yanked his arm so hard he thought they’d pulled it out of its socket. He didn’t even have it in him to whine about the pain and the bruises he would for sure have tomorrow.

Cold air hit him in the face and it was like a switch had been flipped. The world shifted on its axis and suddenly he could breathe.

He let out a straggled groan as he shoved at the person holding him, which turned out to be a bad idea, because the second they weren’t supporting his weight anymore his legs buckled and he stumbled.

“Whoa, not a good idea, dude!” Like that wasn’t blatantly obvious to him now.

Harry grabbed onto Gil’s hand to ground himself, slowly, reality was trickling back in. “What happened?”

Someone touched his cheek, since he was holding onto Gil for dear life it must’ve been Uma. Harry leaned into the touch instinctively.

“You had a negative reaction to magic.” Uma sounded afraid, and that set of red flags in Harry’s head, because Uma was never afraid. “I didn’t think that was possible. You were fine in the limo and in the dorm room. I’ve never heard of anybody having a reaction like you just did.”

“Because in the few hours we’ve been in Auradon you’ve become a magic expert.”

“Asshole.” Uma dug her nails into his cheek, not deep enough to do any real damage. She’d never damage his face, it was one of his best features.

“Sorry.”

“No you’re not.” She went on, “My mother had a few books on magic that she kept when they rounded up all the villains. Magic’s supposed to feel like a…ray of goodness,” Her nose scrunched up in disgust at the word. “It isn’t supposed to kill people. Not Auradon’s kind of magic, anyway.”

Harry frowned, “I’m not dead.”

“You almost were,” Gil chimed in, looking honest to Gods’ worried. Unlike Uma, he didn’t try to hide his fear. “You were turning blue. Your eyes went white. I thought…I don’t want to say what I thought.”

Harry ran a finger over Gil’s bottom lip, hating that he’d freaked them out so much, if he could help it he promised himself he’d never do it again. “If it’s any consolation to you both, it wasn’t exactly fun.”

“I’ll bet,” Uma’s palm lingered on his cheek a second longer than she would normally allow. “Don’t do it again.”

“Believe me, I don’t plan on it.”

She withdrew her hand and he realized that her arms were empty.

“The wand?”

She shook her head, “As soon as I got too close to getting it the protection spell around it triggered an alarm. You were down for the count, I didn’t…” She tapered off.

_“I didn’t want to risk it.”_

The words hung heavy and unsaid between them, he scratched the back of his neck feeling more vulnerable than he was used to, than he’d ever let anyone else see. But Gil and Uma weren’t just anyone.

“We should get out of here, then.” They were still on the Museum steps, and the guard could stick his head out and catch them at any moment. “I can walk.”

Gil reluctantly let go of him, hesitating before letting his arms fall back to his side.

The limo was where they’d left it, still shimmering, except it wasn’t beautiful to him anymore. He remembered the feeling of suffocating, invisible hands around his throat, and he toyed with the idea of telling Uma he’d walk back. He’d had enough of magic for the next decade.

She glanced back at him and her eyes flashed, he knew his thoughts were transparent to her. She didn’t reach for his hand, but something in her expression said she wanted to. Sometimes, her thoughts were transparent to him as well.

“Hey, you’re okay. We’re all okay.” She nudged Gil with her elbow to get him in the limo, “Why don’t you sit in the back with Gil? I’ll drive.”

Gil looked in love with the idea, he held the door open for Harry. Harry shook his head at the both of them, usually, Uma was more subtle than this. Gil couldn’t be subtle to save his life. But if it got rid of the concerned looks on their faces, he’d keep his eye-roll to himself. He didn’t like broadcasting his weaknesses to the world, and fearing magic was a huge weakness.

No. That wasn’t quite right, he didn’t fear all magic. Uma was as powerful as it got, and he wasn’t afraid of her at all.

The car ride back to the school was silent, Uma was a much better driver than Harry; she went at a snail’s pace. Which, in hindsight, he probably should have done as well. Hindsight was always twenty-twenty.

They left the limo in the courtyard and with a wave of Uma’s hand it disappeared. She led the way to the dorms, keeping close to the walls and the dark corners, it was after curfew but who knew if anyone else was wondering around.

Sliding the key into the lock, she made Harry go in first, with a firm order of “Bed, now.”

Harry pouted just to annoy her. “But I’m not tired.”

“I don’t care,” She crossed the room in three quick strides, cupping his chin and tilting his head back and forth. “You’re still too pale.”

“Am not,” He said stubbornly.

“Are too, dude.” Gil toed off his boots and flopped onto his bed, moaning in pleasure as the mattress dipped under his weight. “Awesome.”

“Glad you think so,” Harry glared at his bed murderously.

“Hey, eyes on me.” Uma searched his face, gaze shrewd and all-knowing. “Do you feel okay?”

“Your hand is on my chest,” Harry indicated the hand she was using to keep him in place. “I’m better than okay.”

Uma shoved him back lightly, snorting, “Dirty pirate.”

“Dirty for you,” Harry waggled his eyebrows before realizing how gross that had sounded. “I apologize, that was in poor taste.”

“Everything you say is,” Uma walked over to her closet and peeled her jacket off. “I wasn’t kidding when I told you to go to bed.”

Harry let out a tortured sigh before shrugging off his coat and hanging it meticulously. He debated whether or not to remove his shirt and just sleep without one, it was stuffy in this blasted room. In the end he decided to forgo all clothing, it would for sure attract Uma’s attention if he slept in the nude.

Folding his shirt neatly, he laid it carefully in a drawer. Sometimes he wondered if he was unhealthily obsessed with his clothes.

He pondered that for a minute. Nah.

Slipping off his pants, he fingered the chain around his neck, playing with the tiny hook. It was quickly becoming a habit.

He hated the bed, it felt too much like he was being swallowed up, but damn did the sheets feel good against his overheated skin.

Kicking off his boots, he settled against the headboard. Uma, freshly changed into a pair of loose pants and an oversized t-shirt he quickly identified as Gil’s, raised an eye-ridge at him.

“Someone wants attention.”

“Give it to me?” Harry beckoned for her to come join him on the bed. She sent him an exasperated look, “Gil, go join Harry on the bed.” She turned, heading for the bathroom, “Why’d I pick such a needy first mate.”

“Oi,” Harry assumed a wounded expression. “You’re offending my delicate sensibilities, lass.”

“Captain.”

“Captain lass,” He corrected himself. Gil’s eyes were steadily growing wider with each step he took towards the bed.

Harry grinned at him, “I know I’m beautiful, dearie, but uh, staring is rude.”

“Sorry.”

“Don’t be, I’m rude all the time.” He motioned for Gil to lie down beside him. The blonde looked like a child who’d been presented with a whole loaf of bread for lunch, and not the moldy kind.

Gil started snoring the minute his head hit the pillow, curled halfway into Harry’s chest, but Harry stayed staring up at the ceiling well past midnight. The flashing numbers on the digital clock mocked him.

Slipping from the bed, he peeled the sheets off of Gil’s mattress and set up a makeshift nest on the floor. Using the thick comforter as a pillow, his eyes drifted shut within seconds.

Sometime during the night, the sound of the toilet flushing from the bathroom woke him up. He cracked an eye-lid, watching as Gil turned the light off and padded silently to where Harry was sleeping. He laid down on Harry’s left side, cradling a pillow and blankets that hadn’t been there before.

He’d joined him on the floor.

Frowning at Uma’s empty bed, Harry flopped onto his right side. Her braids were in her face, partially covering her eyes. She was drooling a little, she was still the most magnificent thing he’d ever seen.

They’d both joined him on the floor. She’d probably try to play it off in the morning, he’d let her get away with it.

They’d nick the wand tomorrow, he just knew it. He had yet to see her fail.


	7. First Day of Hell, Is It Over Yet? Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Classes start. Uma goes back to scheming, Harry considers homicide more than once and Gil struggles with the idea of being without them. Ben's just happy they seem to tolerate him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you are all having a wonderful January, my darlings. I go back to school soon, so the updates are going to start slowing down, but I'm going to try my best to be a high-functioning human being and keep posting chapters. I'm taking a time-management seminar, so I hope that helps me! Anyway, this chapter is mostly filler. I'm trying to explore the relationships between everyone and get all of the storylines and character arcs set up, but I promise it's entertaining. At least, I think so ;) Leave a comment if you wish and I hope you enjoy! On the with story <3

* * *

Uma woke up to someone tugging on her hair.

It was still a better wake-up call than Harry coming at her armed with a bottle of nail polish.

“Whoever that is,” Uma mumbled into the blanket, “Prepare to be castrated.”

“But then how will I perform my first mately duties?” Harry drawled, accent thick and heavy with sleep, meaning he’d just woken up.

“I’m sure you’ll find a way.” Knowing there was no way she was getting back to sleep now, Uma sat up and stretched, her back not as sore as she thought it’d be, having slept on the floor and all.

Even the floors in this place were soft. Good grief.

Harry moaned in displeasure as she stood up, “Don’t leave me.”

Uma glanced down at him, “You’ve got a great view from that angle too, Hook.”

As if just realizing, Harry made a show of checking out her ass, nodding enthusiastically. “I retract my complaint.”

“You better.”

“Gil,” Harry called, “Are you quite done in the bathroom? I want to wash the feel of spoiled goody-goodies off me.”

“In a minute!” Was the reply, Uma rolled her eyes, it was too damn early for Harry and Gil’s ‘ _Good morning Auradon_ ’ routine.

“There’s hot water!” Gil sounded like he’d been bestowed a gift from the Gods. "It’s awesome! You gotta try it!”

“That’s the idea.” Harry perked up, adding mischievously, “Are you giving me permission to come join you?”

“Manwhore,” Uma muttered, marching over to her closet and finger combing her hair. Harry had been re-doing the braids, he’d done a pretty good job too, but his ego was big enough without her stroking it.

“Don’t you forget it, love.” Harry threw a sultry wink in her direction. “Shall I watch you change and give my expert opinion?”

“Shall I gauge your eyes out and feed them to you?”

“I rather like my eyes,” He reclined on his elbows and stared pointedly at the carpet, “Tell me when it’s safe to look.”

She slipped on a pair of teal leggings with leather patches, her worn beige ankle boots with the starfish on the sides, and a shirt she’d stolen from Harry. It was one of the least ripped ones he owned. And he wondered why the crew accused him of being a pirate prostitute for hire.

“Your eyes are safe.” She actually did want his opinion, he was shockingly not terrible at judging what clothing looked good and what didn’t.

He gave her a quick once-over, the smile on his face widened an extra degree, signaling his approval. “Success. I’ve done well with thee.” His gaze lingered on her bare arms and the swooping V-neck, upper lip twitching. “Throwing a jacket over it would really tie the whole thing together.”

Uma shot him an unimpressed look, “You’re not being subtle. This shirt is yours, you know.”

“I know,” Harry said. “That’s why I don’t like you wearing it. It shows too much skin. People will look at you, and then I’ll have to throttle them out of rage or principle or both.”

“More like jealousy,” Nonetheless, she found herself slipping on her jacket. “You wear this shirt all the time.”

“Yes, and we’ve already agreed I’m a total manwhore.” Harry pointed out, not offended in the least. “Do you want to be as slutty as me?”

“There’s no one as slutty as you.” Uma started making the beds before remembering she had magic for stuff like that. A simple spell and the room was spotless. She gave herself a pat on the back and went to work un-tangling her braids. She wasn’t confident enough to use magic on herself quite yet, even the simplest spells, especially after Harry’s reaction last night—

She whirled on him, “How are you feeling?”

“Horny,” Was the immediate answer. It told her all she needed to know.

Groaning, she re-focused on her hair, “You’re fine.” In her periphery she could make out the pallor of his skin. His healthy tan was back, the sickly paleness gone. She kept her breath of relief to herself.

Gil chose that moment to step out of the bathroom, wearing a fluffy white bathrobe. He grinned brilliantly, too brilliantly for someone having been born and raised on the Isle of the Lost. But Gil had always been a novelty, a light in the darkness. But that was a cheesy thing to say, and Uma wasn’t a poet. Just thinking it disgusted her.

“Finally,” Harry swept past Gil into the bathroom. Handing Uma her toothbrush, toothpaste, a glass of water and mouth rinse before shutting the door. “If you wasted all the hot water I’ll dye your hair green in your sleep.”

That was a pretty tame threat, coming from Harry. Gil patted his hair worriedly, pulling the bathrobe tighter around himself. Uma brushed her teeth and dumped the water in the trash bin, setting the cup on the nightstand.

She busied herself going over their schedules again while Gil got dressed, she wasn’t Harry; she didn’t try to sneak a peek.

“Classes start at eight-thirty. What time is it?”

She heard shuffling and assumed Gil had glanced at the clock, “Seven-ten.”

“When Harry gets out of the shower the two of you go get breakfast.”

Gil said “Sure” at the same time Harry shouted from the bathroom, “Why?”

“Cause I don’t feel like interacting with these snobs any more than I have to,” Uma said. “I also have to plot another way for us to get the wand, since stealing it from the museum was a dead end.”

There was a long-suffering sigh, “Fine.” The water turned off, a minute later the door opened and steam poured out. Harry stepped out into the dorm wearing nothing but a wet towel slung low on his hips. It barely covered anything.

Gil threw on his yellow leather jacket, jaw dropping. “Wow. Uh, I mean…no, no I mean wow. Really wow.”

Harry smirked devilishly, “That’ll be two thousand in gold.”

“Someone’s ridiculously expensive,” Uma scoffed.

“Prime merchandise,” Harry gestured to himself. “This doesn’t come cheap, love. But for you? I’ll give it to you free.”

“Still not sleeping with you, Harry.”

“A pirate can dream,” Harry sauntered towards the door, swiping a key on his way out.

“Harry—” Uma grabbed his arm, “You’re not wearing any clothes.”

“Relax, all the important bits are covered.” He motioned for Gil to follow him, blue eyes flashing wickedly, “I’ll be doing these Auradon kids a public service.”

“A very, very nice public service.” Gil’s eyes hadn’t left Harry’s chest once, “Very nice.”

He linked their arms, the sunlight streaming in through the crack in the curtains reflected off the metal hook around his neck. Had he taken it off to shower? Knowing Harry, probably not, obsessed as he was with the thing.

“We’ll be back in the time it takes Gil to stop staring at me.”

“Twenty years from now, then?” Uma crossed her arms.

“Only twenty years? You wound me.” Harry pouted, slipping out the door. Gil broke out of his trance long enough to ask her what she wanted for breakfast.

“Whatever fruit you can get your hands on. The kitchen is right behind the cafeteria. Everyone will be at breakfast. No one should see you get in and out.”

She would have conjured up food for them, but after last night, she felt oddly drained and numb. Not to mention she didn’t want Harry near magic until the image of him turning blue faded from her mind. Better to do it the old fashioned way, they’d lived their lives up until now without magic.

Gil and Harry had both helped her out in the kitchen at the Fish and Chips, Gil knew how to work an oven and Harry wasn’t completely inept with a pan and boiling water.

A hollow feeling had settled in her stomach not long after she’d used magic to clean the room, and it hadn’t gone away yet. She didn’t want to use it anymore until she’d learned more about the effects it had on a person.

Well, she knew what they were doing tonight after suffering through their classes.

Raiding books from the library should be a lot easier than trying to steal the wand.

* * *

Ben was having a good morning.

He’d gotten an extra half hour of sleep, gone to the tailor’s to have his Coronation suit re-fitted—for the eleventh time—and he’d managed to convince FG to allow him to bring Uma, Harry and Gil into town later today.

He was practically vibrating with excitement, it’d taken a good bit of begging to get her to agree; Ben was not ashamed to say he’d gotten on his knees. Any excuse to spend more time with the three new students was worth it.

Also, it got him out of a date with Audrey.

More like an arranged meeting with her and her parents.

He felt crappy for ditching, and it made him the most cowardly soon-to-be-king this side of Auradon, but he couldn’t stomach another luncheon spent going over the seating chart for their wedding and flower center-pieces. He was only sixteen and about to be crowned king, he didn’t need ‘husband’ added to the long list of labels he wasn’t prepared for. He’d take being a coward.

He would’ve jumped on any plans that got him out of it, getting to spend more time with Harry, Uma and Gil was just an added bonus.

He hadn’t seen them since they’d said they’d sit with him for supper yesterday and had promptly disappeared. He’d spent the rest of the night worrying he’d scared them off by being too eager and debating whether or not to swing by their room. He’d almost done it but chickened out at the last minute.

Glancing down at his watch every few seconds, he waited outside the cafeteria doors, scanning each face that passed. Breakfast was nearly over and there was still no sign of them. It was entirely possible they’d decided to sleep in, but classes started for them this morning so unless they planned on skipping breakfast—

The thought hit him like a freighter. What if they were skipping breakfast? He hadn’t seen them touch any of the food yesterday evening, and Uma was startlingly petite, despite the fact that her presence seemed to fill up every room she entered. Did they not have food on the Isle? When was the last time anyone had bothered to check?

It still made no sense, if the Isle was short on resources that should have made them want to eat more, not starve themselves.

Making the split-second decision, Ben decided to forget breakfast in favor of swinging by their room and escorting them personally. While he was there he could ask them about going downtown later, only if they wanted.

Halfway past the kitchen, something gave him pause.

A noise. Shuffling. Muffled voices.

The door was just the slightest bit ajar. Ben glanced around the empty hallway before slipping through the crack. He came face to face with a sight that was as unexpected as it was endearing.

Harry, scooping peanut butter from the jar.

Gil, with his mouth smeared with Nutella.

Their gazes flipped to him the moment he stepped through the threshold, eyes piercing, Harry’s more than Gil’s.

 _Wow_. He thought. _Great hearing. It barely made a sound._

“Hey guys,” His lips quirked into a smile of their own accord, he had no control over his mouth muscles when it came to them. “I didn’t see you at breakfast, what’re you up to?”

If they realized he hadn’t mentioned their disappearing act from yesterday, they avoided it as pointedly as he did. It hurt a little, but he buried that somewhere deep.

“Plotting,” Harry said with a spoonful of peanut butter on the way to his mouth. “Poisoning the food supply.”

“I don’t think you’d do that,” Ben said.

“We wouldn’t?” Harry glanced at Gil, “I’m very disappointed in us, then.”

Gil nodded, only half paying attention. His focus was entirely on the jar of Nutella he was cradling to his chest.

It was both slightly disturbing and adorable.

“You don’t trust the food here, do you?” Ben said, feeling disappointed and like he’d failed them even though he’d done nothing wrong. He couldn’t think of another reason for them to skip meals in the cafeteria unless it was out of mistrust.

They had no reason to trust the cafeteria food. No reason to trust Auradon.

No reason to trust him.

He didn’t know where the ache came from, he’d barely known them for two days and yet he wanted so badly for them to trust him.

“We’re eating it now, aren’t we?” Harry said, more of a deflection than anything else.

“The food served in the cafeteria is perfectly safe,” Ben would personally taste test every dish for them if that was what it took.

“Princey, you’ve given us no reason to believe a word that comes out of your posh mouth. You kept us locked on a floating prison for sixteen years, did you really expect us to sing _‘Hakuna Matata’_ , build a bridge and get over it that quickly?”

Foolishly, he realized that _was_ what he’d been expecting.

“I can grant you access to the kitchen,” Ben said quietly, growing more and more ashamed with each passing minute. “So you wouldn’t have to sneak in every meal. I can have pass cards made for you—”

“Sure, make it legal and take all the fun out of it.” Harry licked his fingers and put the lid back on the peanut butter. “C’mon Gil, let’s get back before our dear captain summons a storm cloud to rain down on our heads.”

Harry brushed past him and swept out the door without another glance in his direction. Gil, arms full with Nutella jars and larding a mini-fridge and a microwave that he’d ripped out of the wall behind him, offered Ben a kind smile before following.

Ben’s good mood plummeted. He toyed with the idea of getting them the pass cards anyway, knew they wouldn’t bother using them even if he got them.

He wouldn’t feel at ease until this eating arrangement was settled. Maybe if the food was cooked fresh right in front of them—

His brain short-circuited and went into shutdown. His cheeks turned flame red and his body tensed like when he was about to go into Beast freak-out mode.

Harry had been wearing nothing but a towel.

Ben didn’t know if he fainted or if he lost all sense of self, but next thing he knew he was crouched down on the floor, panting.

Half of him wanted to run and hide in his room for the rest of the day and just forget school.

The other, much larger irrational half wanted to chase after Harry and stare at the boy until the memory was burned into his mind forever.

The rational half won.

* * *

“And then I told him to fuck off.”

“Not in those words, I hope.” Uma munched on an apple, they were sitting in a circle on her bed.

“No,” Gil said around a mouthful of chocolate muffin. “He was much more polite about it.”

“Harry? Polite?” Uma shivered, rubbing at her arms like she was fighting off a chill. “Hell just froze over. Hades must be pissed.”

Harry was dissecting a croissant, eyeing it critically, he had the strangest eating habits. Then again, everything about him was strange. Part of his charm, Gil supposed.

“So what’s the plan for today?”

“Try not to die of boredom, hit the library after hours while everyone else is asleep.” Uma tossed the Granny apple core in the trash bin, wiping her mouth. “Our first class today is Auradonian history, which we all have together. Then Harry and I have biology in wing A—” Her eyes flicked to Gil, “And you have it in wing C.”

He tried not to hyperventilate too much at that, there’d be plenty of time for that later. He gave a tiny nod for her to go on.

“Then its safety rules for the internet, and we end with remedial goodness. We’re together for both those classes.”

Just one class apart from them, how bad could it be, right? How bad could he lose it? It was just one class.

Just. One. Class. Without either of them.

Oh Gods.

“Hey,” Uma snapped her fingers, his gaze automatically moving to her. “Breathe,” She ordered soothingly. A few beats passed and the tension left his shoulders.

“Thanks.” He should just have the words ‘Thanks, Uma’ tattooed on his forehead, it would save him a lot of time.

“Safety rules for the internet,” Harry clucked disapprovingly, “What kind of rubbish is that? What a useless class.”

“Speaking of internet,” Uma motioned for Harry to stop eating and pay attention, “You onboard for lightening these snooty kids’ pockets a little?”

Harry’s eyes lit up like Uma’s did that time Frollo’s daughter accidentally tripped Mal. Or intentionally, Claudine had refused to say.

“How far can I go?”

“As far as you want, just keep it low-profile. Nothing noticeable, don’t try to steal a vase if there are people in the room and the flowers are still in it.”

“Damn,” Harry cursed. “That golden urn in the hall has been mocking me since we arrived. I’ve been itching to nick it.”

“Nick something else, a different urn,” Uma rolled her eyes, it was a common occurrence with Harry. “I’ve got one request. You know what a computer looks like?”

“I saw the scraps of one on the barges a month or so ago,” Harry affirmed.

“Good. Get one. I want to figure out how technology here works. It’s an advantage these kids have that we don’t, and I hate being at any disadvantage.”

“It shall be done, captain.”

“You know what I noticed,” Gil said out of the blue, his mind replaying the way Ben’s face had fallen when they’d left him in the kitchen. He’d been so sad, it was honestly a little pathetic, but he’d never say that in front of Ben.

“The sky is blue?” Harry muttered dryly, “The grass is green, clouds are white. Enlighten us Gil, what mystery of the universe has revealed itself to you?”

Gil cleared his throat, working the words out. “Ben’s weird.”

“No,” Harry’s expression twisted into one of mock astonishment. “And here I thought he was a poster child for what normal people looked like.”

“Explain,” said Uma simply, smacking Harry on the arm.

“He acts weird. Around us,” Gil added hastily. Harry hadn’t seen the look Ben had shot him as he’d left, it wasn’t the look you sent to someone you just met, definitely not the child of a villain.

“You don’t see the way he stares at us? He held Uma’s hand for like, five whole seconds the day he met us—”

“Ground-breaking,” Uma drawled.

“He did?” Harry’s eyes darkened the way they did when he was plotting murder. “I wasn’t counting—”

“You can’t count,” Uma interjected again.

“I should have been! I’m going to find that slimy prince and skewer him with—” He trailed off, remembering Uma had shrunken his hook. A mad look crossed his face and he reached over and plucked the plastic fork Uma had been using to eat grapes out of her hands.

Brandishing it threateningly, he said, “I’m going to eviscerate him with this.”

“A spork.”

“Fork,” Harry frowned.

Uma tapped the flat plastic edge of the utensil, “It serves as a spoon and a fork. Therefore, a spork.”

“What a useless weapon.”

“It’s not meant to be a weapon.” Uma huffed.

“I’ll make it work,” Harry replied, determined like this was his new life mission.

“Okay, I’m done with this. Give it.” The son of hook pouted, passing the utensil to Uma. She snapped it in half and tossed it in the garbage, breathing deeply. “Now that that’s done, what were you saying about Ben? I didn’t think anything was off—”

He knew the second the words left her lips that she was lying, it scared him how good he could read her, sometimes. “Yes you do,” Gil rocked back on his knees, “What did you notice?”

Harry quirked a brow, “You’re both paying attention to him now? Should I fly into a jealous rage and gut him like a fish?”

“No,” Uma added as an afterthought, “Not yet.”

“What did you notice?” Gil repeated, because he refused to be the crazy one who spent way too long analysing people. Crazy was already Harry’s thing.

“He doesn’t look at us the like he looks at anyone else here,” Uma said, lips pressed together into a thin line. “He ogled Harry more than he ogled his girlfriend. He barely breathed in her direction—”

“I don’t think I’m comfortable getting ogled by strangers,” Harry cut in. Uma shot him a _bitch please_ look.

“You walked out this morning wearing nothing but a towel.”

Harry glanced down at himself, he still wasn’t wearing anything but a towel. “That reminds me, I should probably get dressed. Unless you’re giving me permission to show up to class naked.” He smiled gleefully, “Do I have your permission to parade around in the nude?”

“No,” Uma said sternly. “Auradon isn’t the Isle. You can’t decide not to wear clothes.”

“The crew didn’t seem to mind.”

“Who would?” The words were out of Gil’s mouth before he could stop them. “You’re really pretty. Like, _really_.”

His throat closed up, constricting. He wanted to go bury himself in a dark corner.

He’d just called Harry pretty. Not sexy. Not hot. Not handsome or attractive. Pretty.

What was wrong with him?

Harry didn’t blush or give any eternal sign that Gil had made him uncomfortable, but he got up without another word and walked over to his closet, rummaging through it.

Gil cringed. He’d overstepped an invisible line of some sort, he was sure.

Except Uma ran a hand down his arm and sighed like she was relieved, “Thank you for being the Harry whisperer,” She muttered to Gil.

He was pretty sure if anyone had any control over what Harry did, it was her. He accepted the thank you all the same.

The wet towel wound up discarded in the hamper, Gil averted his eyes and traced patterns in the carpet while Harry put on a pair of boxers.

“How’s my hair?” Gil glanced up, Harry was wearing a black shredded tee, criss-cross splattered blood red and black leather pants, and his signature red jacket. His boots were laced up with a tiny skull on the heel, and he wasn’t wearing a hat.

His hair was a complete and utter mess.

It was completely and utterly beautiful.

No. Not the right word. He’d use the right word this time.

“Wicked,” He said, hoping his eyes didn’t betray him. “Messed up like you were in a fight and you won.”

“Perfect,” Harry’s lips curved into a Cheshire Cat grin. “That’s what I was going for.”

A loud bell rang out, irritating and grating his ears. It signaled the end of breakfast and the beginning of first period.

They threw out their trash and headed for the B block corridor. Classes were scattered all over the campus, Gil could see himself getting lost in Auradon Prep.

Uma linked her arm with his, as if having the same thought and wanting to keep him close. Or maybe she was just providing extra contact now because he would have a go a whole class without any later.

He’d been pointedly ignoring the fact until now. He could no longer ignore it. It was quickly becoming a reality and Gil wasn’t ready, wasn’t ready to de-tach himself from Uma’s side. It was like a magnetic force keeping him there, like gravity.

This day was going to be hell, he just knew it.

“This is going to be hell,” Harry said, as if he were in Gil’s head, which he kind of was.

“Well then let’s give as much hell as we’ll get,” Uma said, in true captain fashion. Leading them into the classroom, she picked a three-seater work bench near the back of the room and sat down in the middle. Harry took up the chair on her right while Gil slid into the one on her left. It was plush, cushioned; softer than his bed on the Isle.

The classroom began filling up, new kids coming in and choosing seats. As soon as they recognized Uma, Harry and Gil, they all gave them a wide berth, picking seats far away from them.

The teacher came in, a petite blonde woman named Wendy Darling. She told them to either call her Wendy, or Mrs. Darling.

The absolutely murderous expression that flashed across Harry’s face said that he had a very different name for her.

She picked up on the look he was sending her right away, anyone would have to be blind not to see it, see the boiling rage and the raw fury.

“Ah, our new students. It’s a little late into the semester, but I’m sure you’ll have no problem catching up. I have extra tutoring hours should any of you need any help. Would you mind introducing yourselves to the class? I’m afraid I’m actually rather embarrassed, the headmistress hasn’t provided me with your names yet. You’re arrival was unexpected, but I’m always happy to see fresh faces. So,” She gestured, her smile soft and kind and doing nothing to calm the fire roaring through Harry's veins.

Gil could see it now, the explosion that was to come.

“Introduce yourselves. You first, the gentleman on the right.”

Gil braced himself for the nuclear impact. For the pain and the shrapnel and all of the jagged edges. Harry was vicious when he wanted to be, which was basically all the time.

“Harry,” His tone dripped venom, “Harry Hook. Son of Captain Hook.”

Even the crickets in the class stopped chirping. Mrs. Darling’s smiling face went chalk white, and then absolutely still. She resembled a ragdoll.

Gil glanced at Uma, knew she was the only one who could talk Harry down from a ledge like this, but she was frozen too. Gaze locked on the mania swirling in Harry’s eyes, soft blue turning hard and glacial. He was a mixture of ice and fire all at once, and Gil knew that someday, not today or tomorrow or even a week from now, he would use his hook on her and do what his father hadn’t been able to.

From the way Mrs. Darling’s hands started trembling, she knew it too.

If Uma wasn’t able to do damage control, then it fell to him.

Except Gil had no clue how to calm Harry down, he disappeared so completely in his insanity sometimes, and Uma was the only one who could bring him back.

Gil could punch him, see if that would work. He had a feeling all it would earn him was a black eye.

He sucked in a breath and went for the lesser of two evils.

“Uma,” He nudged her, whispering. “Harry’s losing it.”

His words seemed to have enough shock to snap her out of her daze. Her gaze cut to him, then Harry. She bit her lip like she was debating something before laying her hand on his upper arm, leaning in close to his ear.

Gil didn’t know if she let him hear her, or if she just forgot her was there listening.

“Harry. _Harry_.” His name was rapid-fire on her tongue, Gil watched Harry drag his eyes away from Mrs. Darling to meet Uma’s. Gil hadn’t noticed it until now, with Harry half-facing him, but the son of hook was shaking. Small body tremors, not as visible as Mrs. Darling’s but a flashing red warning sign to all who knew him.

Uma made sure she was the only thing in Harry’s field of vision, then, Gil heard her hiss, “What’s my name?”

Harry's response took time, Gil imagined his mind was going at a mile a minute; that his thoughts were on everything and anything but them.

It did come, there was never any doubt that it would. “Uma,” He said it like it was both a plea and a prayer, like a sinner seeking absolution.

“What am I?”

“Captain,” The answer came quicker now.

“And what are you?”

“First mate. You’re first mate.” The last of the straining tension bled out of Harry’s body, and all traces of rage and bloodlust vanished from his face.

He turned back to Mrs. Darling, a new man. Expression schooled into one of cruel indifference, but not with the same heat and harshness there’d been before. Gil let out a silent breath of relief, thank the Gods’ for Uma.

“My apologies, Mrs. Darling. The past is in the past, I’ve got to learn to—” He made a vague sweeping gesture, voice going a few octaves higher in mockery. “Let it go.”

Whether or not she knew he was patronizing and making fun of her, Mrs. Darling didn’t react. She remained a living statue, looking on the verge of breaking.

“I bear no ill will towards you at all, truly.” Harry continued, shocking Gil with how sincere the words came out.

Harry had always been a damn good liar.

The best.

It scared him as much as it thrilled him.

“I forgot myself there for a moment. I’m deeply, sincerely sorry. If you feel you can’t keep this professional or simply can’t stand the sight of me, I’ll leave right now and transfer to a different class.”

That seemed to strike something. Mrs. Darling re-animated instantly, going wide-eyed and gooey at the forced sympathy and compassion in Harry’s voice.

“Oh, no, no. Dear, Gods’ no.” She strode over to their desk and started apologizing profusely. “Entirely my fault. It seems we both lost ourselves for a moment there.” Harry cranked up the charm by shooting her a soft, vulnerable smile. She practically melted.

Gil needed lessons in how to become a pathological liar. He wondered if Harry would teach him his ways.

“It was extremely unprofessional of me and I’m sorry. I do hope we can move past it and start over, have a proper introduction and beginning of term. I’ll start.” She held out her hand, “I’m Wendy Darling, your Auradonian History instructor. You may call me Wendy or Mrs. Darling. What is your name, gentleman on the right?”

Uma had to subtly pinch Harry’s thigh to get him to shake the teacher’s hand, arm moving mechanically, like he was only semi-aware.

“Harry Hook.” He said distractedly, studying their touching hands in a combination of barely concealed disgust, revolt and repulsion.

“Good.”

A dark cloud passed over the class, a thunderstorm avoided, at least for now. Harry’s self-control was getting better, Uma must’ve been a big part of that.

“And you?”

It took a moment for Gil to realize she’d moved onto him, he’d been so focused watching Harry.

“Ah, Gil, son of Gaston.”

Her smile slipped a bit but otherwise her demeanor didn’t change, nothing like with Harry. “And you, Miss?”

“Uma, daughter of Ursula.”

“Excellent.” She spun on her heel and strode to the front of the room, returning with three textbooks. “These are your textbooks for this class. Everyone else is already on chapter five, so you will have to read a little more to be prepared for next class. Today we’re not doing anything too big, since it is your first day and I don’t want to overwhelm you, we’ll just watch a documentary and then I’ll let you go. Okay?”

The students around them cheered in approval. Mrs. Darling walked over to a projector screen and tapped on the monitor.

 _A tale of modern Auradon_. It sounded boring, Harry already looked like he was falling asleep.

Gil picked up the textbook in front of him, it was heavy, with thick binding and hard cover. There were three-hundred pages in total.

Chapters one through five focused on the different histories of all of the states of Auradon.

He started reading, the first chapter focused on Auradon itself. The second focused on Atlantis. The third on Agrabah. Arendelle. Corona.

He found himself reading until class ended.

The bell rang again, signaling second period.

“In honor of our new students, there will be no homework tonight.” Mrs. Darling said, and another cheer rose up from the class. “Have a good day.”

Halfway out the door, Gil nearly dropped his textbook.

Second period. The class he had alone.

Uma clenched his shoulder, “Breathe,” She said.

He did, barely. “I can’t do this.”

“Yes you can.” Uma massaged his shoulders, “You’ll be fine. This is Auradon, at least here you don’t have to watch out for people trying to stab you while you back’s turned.”

“I guess,” That wasn’t what was making him panic, though. “I can’t…can’t do it. I can’t spend a whole class away from you.”

There, he’d said it. Let the awkwardness roll in.

“Gil,” Uma pressed a feather light kiss to his cheek. Gil was weary of Harry tackling him for it, he’d seen him tackle others for less.

“Listen to me. It’s an hour and a half. It’s not that long. If you feel like you’re going to have a panic attack, touch your tattoo.” Her hand trailed down to his left wrist, rolling up his sleeve, exposing the “We ride with the tide” in big, messy block letters.

“Look at it and think of us, okay? And if it’s really bad and you can’t stand another minute, tell the teacher you have to go to the bathroom or something. Our classroom’s A-275. Knock three times on the door and then run. We’ll find an excuse to slip out and meet you.”

Gil gawked, he’d been expecting her to chastise him for his weakness, for being so open and letting it show. He hadn’t been expecting sympathy and understanding.

Gods’, he loved her.

Wait. He didn’t just think that. No. Backtrack. Erase.

He respected her.

Yeah, that worked. As long as he ignored the tiny voice that sounded like Harry that said he was lying.

“Thanks, captain.” A warm feeling welled up in his chest, chasing away lingering fear and unease. “You don’t have to do that.”

“Yes I do,” Uma said. “You’re a part of my crew. That makes it my job. You’re my responsibility. Mine.”

He got shivers at the way she said _‘Mine’_.

“You’re the best captain a second mate could ask for,” Gil grinned, remembering to use proper pirate terminology, knowing Harry would like it.

Except Harry wasn’t even facing in their direction. He was peering through the door-crack into the classroom they’d just left, watching Mrs. Darling at her desk. His back was to them and he was muttering to himself.

Oh jeez.

“Harry,” Uma snapped. “What are you doing? You know what,” She shook her head, “Forget it. I know what you’re doing. Get a hold of yourself.”

“It would be so easy,” His voice was low and raspy and razor-edged. “To go in there and—” He trailed off, exhaling deeply. “It would be _so easy_.”

“Not now,” Uma grunted, pulling him away from the door. “When we take over Auradon you can hang her from the chandelier if you want. Right now,” She fisted the material of his red jacket, “We have biology.”

“Sounds like a waste.”

“Biology usually involves dissecting things.”

“People?” His eyes lit up gleefully.

“No. Cow eyeballs, dead frogs—”

“They want us to cut up poor defenseless animals?” Harry went slack-jawed.

“The animals are already dead, genius. They’re just donated to the school for scientific purposes or whatever.” Her nose scrunched up, “I assume.”

“Barbarians.”

“And cutting up people is better?” Uma put a hand on her hip.

“Yes, at least they can fight back.” Harry growled angrily, half enraged and half revolted. “Bar-fucking-barians.”

“Am I gonna have to deal with this all class?” Uma muttered, more to herself than anyone else. “C’mon, we better start walking or we’re going to be late.”

“If these insufferable self-righteous pricks wanted us to be punctual, they wouldn’t make us get up at the hell that is a.m.”

“Feel better?” Uma asked after Harry had finished his little outburst. Gil watched with faint amusement.

“Not at all,” Harry eyed her up and down, “But looking at you makes me slightly less homicidal.”

“In that case, ogle away.” Uma rolled her eyes, “Whatever keeps you from attacking someone with a spork.”

“So you agree that would have worked.”

“I’m not having this conversation with you. Gil,” Uma pointed to a hallway they’d just passed. “That was yours. C wing.”

Time to get this over with.

Gil shot them both tight smiles before starting down the corridor. His room was C-226, the first door in a long row of identical ones; it was ajar. There were already students milling around inside so he mustered up his best inner Harry, thought _‘to hell with it’_ and swaggered in.

Immediately, all movement stopped. A roomful of eyes landed on him.

Gil did the only thing he could think of.

He smiled shyly and waved.


	8. First Day of Hell, Is It Over Yet? Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It becomes abundantly clear that getting the wand will be nowhere near as easy as they thought it would be, and that it might even be the least of their worries. But this is Uma's family, it's small and broken but she's willing to do whatever it takes to keep them together. Anything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello my loves, I hope you're all doing well and that the shitty weather outside isn't keeping you down :) I've invested in more hot chocolate, and giant marshmallows, now if only college work wasn't keeping me down I might actually be able to stick to a semi-normal update schedule. But oh well ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯. This is the chapter where the story really diverges from the plot, and it's going to get a lot darker, so hold onto your pirate hats! Don't worry, eventually we'll get back on track with the plan to get the wand but in the mean time enjoy all the angst and feels. Anyway, I hope you all have a wonderful week and please leave a comment if you wish! I love you all xoxo

* * *

Ben glanced away from his biology book, saw Gil standing in the doorway looking lost, and squealed.

In a very manly way. More of a grunt, really. A surprised, happy grunt.

Slinking away from where Audrey and Chad were in a heated debate about suede purses vs. leather purses—Ben didn’t know why Chad was so devoted to suede, he didn’t even own a purse—he crossed the room to Gil. The blonde waved at Ben when he saw him.

“Hey, we’re in the same class.” Ben couldn’t help the happy thrill that shot through him. “C’mon, we’ll go sit at the same workbench. Whoever you sit with is your lab partner for the whole year.”

“Guess I’ll go with you,” Gil followed him. “Since I know literally nobody else and everyone’s sending me looks like they wish it was me they were dissecting instead of the frogs.”

“No one’s—” Ben cut off sharply, now that he was with Gil all of the chatter in the classroom had stopped. All of the other students were pointedly _not_ looking at them. “I’ll say something to the teacher. Or Fairy Godmother. They can’t look at you like that, you’ve done nothing to them. It’s not right.” He frowned, adding, “And who told you we dissect frogs? At most we dissect cow eyeballs and that’s it.”

“Really?” Gil whistled, “Damn, Harry's gonna be pissed. Uma called it. Should’ve known she’d be right. She’s right about everything.”

Ben heard past the praise and zeroed in on the respect in Gil’s tone. “You really care about her.”

“Obviously, she’s my captain.” The blonde snorted like Ben was off his rocker. “She’s the only person who ever looked out for me. Minus Harry and the rest of the crew.”

“Are you two close?”

“I just told you she’s my captain.”

“No,” Ben gestured vaguely with one hand, “I mean…are you… _close_. Like, together? A couple? Is there dating on the Isle?”

Gil’s eyes flew wide as if Ben had told him to get naked in the middle of the classroom. “Are you nuts? Shows you know nothing about the Isle. Caring about anyone is a serious weakness. And if people know you’re weaknesses, they can and will take you out. That’s like Isle101.”

Gil shook his head somewhat disapprovingly, “Seriously. Did you do your homework before you invited us here? If you’re gonna stick a bunch of bad guys on an island at least watch them to see how they live. Otherwise you’re ignoring your enemies and giving them a chance to get you while your back’s turned.”

Ben was shocked, mouth rounded in an ‘o’. He couldn’t think of anything to respond to that.

“Why’re you staring at me like a dead fish? That’s common sense, man.” Gil scoffed, sliding past Ben to take a seat at a workbench at the front of the class. “And they say _I’m_ dumb.”

Ben didn’t know who ‘they’ were, but he’d heard Gil say this to himself before. And maybe he was right. Maybe Ben was the dumb one, because he’d gone and rushed head-first into something he knew absolutely nothing about.

Gil seemed genuine, he was definitely a good person. How had he survived all those harsh years on the Isle?

If Ben could wheedle answers to his thousands of questions out of anybody, he had a feeling Gil was his best bet.

Uma seemed okay enough, but there was something cold and calculating behind her eyes when he looked at her sometimes, and Ben had been looking at her a lot these past two days. And thinking about her, maybe a little too much. She would definitely lie to him or make something up.

There wasn’t a doubt in Ben’s mind that if he went to Harry with any of his questions, the son of hook would kill him and hide his body somewhere. No. Doubt.

Why did that make him more attractive instead of less? Ben was running on four hours of sleep; maybe that was why he was so messed up in the head.

The teacher came into class and Ben sat down next to Gil.

“Gil,” He started, “Can you tell me about the Isle?”

The blonde bit his lip.

“You said I knew nothing, and you were right. I do know nothing. Tell me. If you tell me maybe I can do better than my father did this time around, I can help the kids who’ve been abandoned. Nobody deserves that.”

“No matter what you do, they’ll still all hate you.” Gil said matter-of-factly. “It’s not even you, really, you’re an okay guy. It’s because of your dad. No one on the Isle’s getting over what he did anytime soon. Just like everyone else here—” He motioned to the rest of the room, “Is always going to hate us because of who our parents are.”

“That’s not true.” Ben refused to believe people could be that close-minded, this was Auradon, after all. “I don’t hate you, and I’m sure no one else does either. They’re just…weary. They’ve just met you, they don’t know you yet. But when they do they’ll see you have the potential to be just as good as any of them. It doesn’t matter who your parents are.”

He judged his next words carefully and decided to risk it anyway, “You said everyone on the Isle hates me because of my father, having actually met me, do you hate me?”

“Harry does, but I’m not supposed to say that. Me? I could take you or leave you.”

“How heartwarming,” Ben said, fighting a smile. “I hope that’s an improvement from before?”

“Eh, a small one. I never had much of an opinion on you. I just wanted off. Didn’t matter who put me there.”

Gil commonly referred to himself as “the dumb one” and usually came off as it. But right now, sitting here with him, Ben knew that Gil picked up on more than anyone gave him credit for.

“Then you’re kinder than most, I have friends who hold grudges for lesser things.”

“Like what?”

“My friend Audrey locked me out of her car once for buying her the wrong kind of tea. It was minus twenty degrees outside. She didn’t speak to me for two days afterward.”

“That’s crazy, dude. Audrey? The snobby one that was with you the day we got here, right?”

 _The snobby one_. Even Ben had to admit, that was on point.

“Yeah.”

“She’s your friend?” Gil’s face scrunched up in confusion, “Man, you guys really are touchy-feely in Auradon. If that’s what she does with her friends, I’d hate to see what she gets up to with someone who’s more.”

Ben winced. Ah, busted.

“I’m actually her boyfriend.”

“Then why’d you call her your friend?” Gil propped his chin up, leaning forward in interest. Ben suddenly felt like he was one of those girls in those TV shows were all anyone did at school was gossip.

“I…we’re not really…official.”

“She didn’t let you out of her sight, I think she thinks it’s pretty official.”

“Well—” Ben didn’t want to get into the whole arranged marriage between two royals thing, it honestly depressed him, and this was a long way from the initial conversation he’d wanted to have about the Isle. Gil might not be Uma, but he could deflect just as well as her.

“She’s…she and I aren’t exactly on the same page. She’s my friend more than anything else, so that’s what I call her. Enough about me, I’d really rather talk about you.”

“Not much to tell,” Gil shrugged, accepting the change in subject. “My name’s Gil. I’m seventeen and until today I never knew what chocolate tasted like.” Ben’s heart ached for him, even as the blonde smiled. “It was awesome.”

“It’s not really my favorite, but I guess I take for granted that if I ever want it I’ll always have it.”

“That’s deep,” Gil said, eyebrows furrowing. “You know how I said I never had an opinion on you?”

“You said you never had _much_ of one,” Ben felt the need to clarify. “But go on.”

“I think I’m starting to have one,” His expression was pensive. Ben knew in that moment that Gil let people think he was stupid, maybe he said dumb things, but he was far from who they all thought he was.

Ben was happy to know that about him, it meant he was on his way to knowing him.

“Good or bad?” Ben asked.

“Don’t know yet.”

Ben pushed away the disappointment, that wasn’t a ‘good’ but it wasn’t a ‘bad’ either. He had plenty of time to make a lasting impression. “That’s alright. Sometimes I don’t know if I like myself either.”

What a terrible thing to say. He wanted to smack himself the minute he said it. The last thing he’d wanted was to make Gil think he was an insecure neurotic weirdo. There went any chance of ‘good.’

Ben waited for Gil to laugh at him, Chad would have. Audrey would have just stood there, silently judging him.

Instead, Gil snorted and turned to the blackboard where the teacher had been going on about something for ten minutes. Ben hadn’t heard a word of it.

“That’s fine. Everyone has bad days.”

Ben stared at Gil and wondered if there was a warning in that, a cry for help, but Gil was thumbing through the brand new biology textbook on his desk and not looking distressed at all.

Ben, on the other hand, was very distressed.

How many bad days must Gil have had for him to be so okay with it? How many have all the Isle kids had?

He glanced out the classroom window, he couldn’t see the Isle from here.

 _Damn_. He thought _. It’s no wonder they all hate me there_.

* * *

 “Kill me.”

“No.”

“Then kiss me.”

“Also no.”

“But this is more torturous than having to sit through Selfies class at Serpent Prep.” Harry whined, leaning his head on Uma’s shoulder.

She swatted him but didn’t shove him off, “If you don’t want to listen then distract yourself.”

“How can I when you’re not talking to me?”

“I’m trying not to draw attention, here.” Uma passed him a blank sheet of paper from her notepad. She was sketching faded images of mermaids and starfish, electric eels and shell thrones. The trident of Triton.

“Draw something.”

“Is that supposed to be a joke or a play on words?” Harry asked, accepting the paper nonetheless. “Don’t draw attention, draw something instead.”

She shot him a bored expression and handed him a pencil, “Class is over in ten minutes. Then you can run screaming through the halls for all I care. Not,” She added hastily. “That I am giving you permission.”

“Damn it.”

Uma went back to ignoring him, Harry stared at her profile and thought there was no thing of beauty he’d rather draw. And if she asked, he’d tell her that. She’d smack him, but at least she’d be talking to him.

He started out sketching her hair, the intricate braids hard to get just right. He moved onto her eyes, then the shape of her face, her expression. Murderous, but not too murderous. Graceful, but still powerful.

Suddenly, Uma perked up next to him. She sniffed the air. “Do you smell that? I think something’s burning.”

She nudged his arm when he didn’t lift his head, “Harry, is something burning?”

Harry flashed her a devilish smirk, “Just my desire for you.”

“Harry!” Uma grabbed his arm and yanked him to her chest. “The Bunsen burner’s on fire!”

“Isn’t that the point of a Bunsen burner?”

“Move!” She shouted, dragging him away from the workbench. A blue-green flame was streaking high from the burner, he’d been so busy drawing he hadn’t noticed he’d set the flame to the highest setting and forgotten to close it.

Clutching the paper of his drawing of Uma close to him, he sighed. Raising his hand, he caught the teacher’s attention. “This thing’s on fire, is there some sort of protocol for this? What do we do?”

The teacher screamed and ran for the fire-retardant in the corner of the room. Students started yelling and spilling out into the hallway. Harry glanced at Uma.

“I guess the protocol is to run away in terror. I thought heroes were supposed to be brave and slay dragons, what a let-down.”

“Let’s discuss our disappointment in the hallway, where you can’t set anything else on fire.” Uma growled, tugging on his arm.

They tucked themselves away into a secluded corner of the corridor, Harry watching the chaos and wanting to laugh. A little fire and everyone was losing their minds.

“Did I not say don’t draw any attention?” She whirled on him.

“In my defence,” He held up both hands in surrender. “It wasn’t my intention to start a fire in the classroom. I just forgot to turn the burner off.”

“Right, because that makes it all better.” She scanned the students and staff loitering in the hallway. “If we’re going to fly under the radar, try not to get thrown into prison for arson.”

“I’ll do my best.”

“Whoa.” An Asian girl with short black cropped hair peeked out of a nearby classroom. “What’s going on?”

“None of your business—” Uma cut Harry off.

“Fire started in Mr. Crossley’s class. No big deal. Really.” Uma emphasized when the girl’s eyes went wide and her hand flew to her mouth.

“That’s terrible. Nothing like that’s ever happened before. Who started it?”

“Can’t say for sure.” Harry grinned innocently as Uma gave him the side-eye.

The girl said something to someone in the class and then made for them, Harry huffed and leaned down to whisper in Uma’s ear. “See what happens when you’re not an asshole to people? They want to talk to you.”

“It’s Auradon, I could probably be the biggest asshole on the planet and they’d still talk to me.” Uma muttered back.

The girl stopped in front of them and stuck out her hand, “Hi. My name’s Lonnie.” When neither of them said anything she frowned, “My mom’s Mulan? No? Nobody? Okay. Well, I know you guys are new here—”

“How could you tell?”

“I know everybody in this school, and trust me, I would have remembered two people like you.”

Harry snorted, “Glad to know we leave lasting impressions, love.”

She, on the other hand, did not. Dressed in a floral print top and sickly pastel skirt with a pair of bored-to-death pink heels, she was utterly forgettable. Then again, Harry didn’t pay much attention to any girls outside of Uma.

“Might be a little more lasting if you tell me your names.”

Ooh, she had some fire in her. He liked that. Still forgettable, but she’d be fun to play with. “Harry Hook,” He gave a low bow and brought her hand to his lips, “A pleasure.” He said, brushing a kiss to her knuckles.

Uma rolled her eyes but something unreadable crossed her face. Harry liked to think it was jealousy but he was probably wrong.

“Uma.” She said simply. Lonnie took her hand back from Harry and extended it for Uma to shake.

“Nice to meet you.”

They all stood there awkwardly for a minute. Harry contemplated faking a sudden illness to escape and making off with Uma like a thief in the night—maybe check on Gil—when Lonnie cleared her throat.

“How’re you two liking Auradon so far?”

“The food’s not crap.” Uma shrugged, “Which is a step up.”

The girl’s features softened into something Harry found truly disgusting; compassion. How dreadful.

“A step up, huh?” Lonnie questioned. “Were things really that bad?”

Harry glanced at Uma. She met his eyes and he mouthed, “ _Is this girl for fucking real?”_

 _“I guess so.”_ She mouthed back.

And Harry hadn’t thought he could hate these people any more than he already did. Surprise.

“The Isle was the Isle,” Uma replied vaguely. Her response tailored to not give anything away. Harry quickly went to change the subject before the girl continued harping on about it.

“Would you look at that, class is over,” He pulled out his pocket watch and dangled it in front of Lonnie’s face. “Seems we’ll have to be going. Gil is probably curled into the fetal position as we speak.”

He shoved the watch back into his pocket before Lonnie could get a good look at it, “Good talk.” He slipped an arm around Uma’s waist and led her in the opposite direction down he hall. “Hope to see you again!” He called over his shoulder, the words making him sick. Gods’, he deserved some sort of award for his performance.

“Glad to be away from that one,” Harry muttered once they were out of earshot.

Uma huffed, throwing an arm over Harry’s shoulders and tangling her fingers in his hair. He could have moaned at the contact, but then she would have stopped.

“Once again, zero subtly, Harry.”

“Not my strong suit, love.” Whatever students were left from Mr. Crossley’s class had dispersed and were heading for the elevators. The corridor was empty enough now that they didn’t have to whisper anymore.

“Do you think Gil’s okay?” Harry asked Uma.

“He didn’t come by, I take it that means he survived.” Uma said, “I’m sure he didn’t start a fire in the classroom.”

“Gil’s not as inventive as I am,” Harry replied.

“Well, you’re both just as insufferable as each other.” They reached Gil’s class, the door was still closed.

“How long left?”

“Two minutes,” Uma leaned back against the wall, watching the clock. She glanced at Harry’s hand as if noticing it for the first time. Her eyes narrowed on the paper, “What’d you draw?”

Harry smiled, holding it up proudly. It was worth all of the work he’d put into it just to see the shock flash across her face. “That’s me?” Her voice cracked, Harry frowned at her worriedly. Was it ugly? Did she hate it?

“Yes,” He answered carefully. “What do you think? It’s not finished yet.”

He held his breath. She bit her lip, never looking away from the drawing. Finally, she took it gently from him and folded it in half, slipping it into his pocket.

“It’s beautiful.” She said honestly. “I had no idea you were so good with a pencil and paper, Harry. I didn’t know you could draw a straight line.”

“It’s easy when you have a dazzling muse,” He joined her leaning on the wall. “Of course, no mere sketch could ever hold a candle to the magnificent radiance standing before me.”

If Harry didn’t know her better, he would have said she blushed. Actually _blushed_. But he’d known her since they were kids and she’d never fallen for one of his compliments, and Gods’ knew he’d paid her so many.

Uma opened her mouth to speak when students flooded out of the classroom. Harry gripped her wrist so as not to get separated. Some of the students leaving shot them suspicious looks as they walked by, Harry put on his best imitation of his father’s smile and watched them scamper.

Uma observed them lazily, thumb tracing circles into the skin of Harry’s palm. “They make it too easy.”

Harry bit back a moan at the contact, “And you make it so hard.” He blew her a kiss. Then, in a turn of events he hadn’t seen coming, Uma tapped her cheek with her free hand, as if asking for a real kiss.

Harry gaped for about thirty seconds before complying, there was no way he was missing such an opportunity. Usually him kissing her cheek ended up with her elbowing him in the ribs.

Her skin was so, so soft.

“Harry,” Uma said after a minute had gone by and his lips were still pressed to her cheek. “Did you fall asleep?”

He groaned and reluctantly pulled back, “You enjoy torturing me.” He said petulantly. She shrugged, not disagreeing.

Gil walked out then, a big smile on his face. It grew bigger when he saw them.

“Guys!” He exclaimed, all sunshine and rainbows. “I love biology! It’s so cool! I mean, I’d love it more if you two were there—”

Harry interrupted Gil’s happy rambling, they had another two classes to get to and the son of Gaston could talk the ear off CJ, which was a miracle in and of itself.

“Great, you can tell us all about it on the way to sex-ed.”

“Safety rules for the internet,” Uma corrected.

Harry frowned at her, “Really? You’re sure it’s not sex-ed?”

“Yes Harry, I’m sure.” Uma huffed.

“I wouldn’t wanna see the pictures in that textbook,” Gil shuddered. “Ooh, that reminds me. Guess who’s in my class? Ben!”

This time it was Uma who frowned, “Prince sheds-on-the-couch?”

“Is that what we’re calling him now?” Harry thought of all the wonderful posters he could hang up, grinning wickedly. “Ingenious.”

“Might not wanna say that to his face,” Gil advised. “He’s right there.”

Harry followed Gil’s line of sight and grimaced. “Run for the hills.” He said.

“He’s coming this way,” Uma hissed, hand tightening on Harry’s. “Did he say anything to you, Gil?”

“He said a lot of things, he went on for twenty minutes about how happy he was to have us here—”

“Jesus,” Harry groaned. “Of all the soon-to-be kings we get the one that’s obsessed with us.”

“Shut it, both of you.” Uma said as Ben got within earshot.

Beastie boy smiled pleasantly at them, “Harry, Uma. It’s nice to see you, how have your classes been going so far? Good, I hope.”

“Terrible. There, I dashed your hopes. Bye.” Harry gave a small wave and started tugging Uma and Gil away.

Beastie didn’t take the hint.

“Wait—” He flagged them down the hallway, “Before you go, I have some news.”

“We’re late for class,” Uma said.

“The bell hasn’t rung yet,” Ben replied, checking his watch.

“I’m going to ring _your_ bells,” Uma growled under her breath.

“What?” Ben asked.

“Nothing,” Uma signaled for Harry and Gil to let her do the talking. Harry was more than happy to oblige, the next words that came out of his mouth would be unfriendly enough to make Claudine Frollo throw her bible at him.

“So what’s up?”

“I’ve spoken with Fairy Godmother,” Ben seemed pleased with himself. “And she’s agreed to let me take you on an outing into town later.”

Uma was silent. Harry could see the cogs turning in her head, “Town?” She asked, “You mean Auradon City?”

“Yeah,” Ben beamed happily, “Only we have to be back before curfew or she’s going to send a search party out.”

“Great,” Uma clucked her tongue. She looked like she was debating something, “Do you have to supervise us the whole time or are we gonna be allowed to go off on our own?”

Ben faltered, “Well…I guess you don’t need me to be your shadow, but I wouldn’t want any of you getting lost. I’ll follow you…at a distance, I guess. If that’s what you want.”

As if sensing she was pushing some sort of invisible line, Uma backtracked. “Just for ten or so minutes, you know, so we can get the lay of the land by ourselves. You can’t always be expected to babysit us.”

“Actually, I volunteered,” Ben said. “I invited you here, it’s my responsibility to make sure you all adjust well. I don’t see it as a chore, in fact, I’m quite excited.”

Uma looked at him blandly, as if asking ‘ _why?’._ Harry was kind of wondering that too, either Ben led a really boring life or he truly was obsessed with them.

“We are too,” Uma plastered on her fake smile. “How about you make a list of your favorite things to do and you can show us all the hotspots.”

Ben’s eyes lit up, “Absolutely. Auradon City is a wonderful place once you get to know it. There’s a festival right now actually, we can go check out the booths if you’d like.”

“Sounds perfect,” Uma said, hurrying them away before Ben could say anything else. “See you then.”

“See you.”

Uma waited until Ben was out of sight before scowling, “The things I put up with.”

“You should have let me hook him.”

“You hook is tiny,” Uma reminded him. Harry fingered the necklace, shrugging. “I would have made it work.”

“What classroom is safety rules for the internet?” Gil asked.

“It’s a B block course,” Uma said. “Room 101, I think.”

Harry snorted, remembering a boy with paper white hair and black roots. “De Vil would enjoy that class.”

“De Vil would be too busy jumping at his own shadow.” Uma chuckled.

“Or crying because dogs are allowed here.” They both glanced at Gil, the blonde looked back. “Ben said the school mascot’s a dog. There’s a shelter open not too far from here.”

“How did this come up?” Harry inquired, feeling something akin to jealousy bubble beneath his skin. “Were you not doing biology in _biology_ class?”

“Not really,” Gil replied honestly. “Mostly the teacher just went over safety rules.”

“Harry set fire to the classroom,” Uma told Gil. “So safety rules might’ve actually been helpful. Not that he would’ve listened.”

“Oi,” Harry sent Uma a kicked puppy expression. “I’m very proud of that. Don’t belittle my exploits.”

Uma rolled her eyes and moved her hand to the back of his head, carding it through his hair. Harry melted into her touch. “Or just do whatever you want. Belittling me is fine.”

“I thought so,” But she didn’t remove her hand.

“Guys,” Gil braced Harry’s bicep. “Room 101.”

They entered just as the bell rang.

“Ah! Our new students!” A middle-aged man wearing an expensive looking brown suit stood in front of a whiteboard. “Please, take a seat. We were just about to begin.”

They chose a bench of three near the back. A girl sitting at a desk close to them shot Harry a fearful look and he bared his teeth in the parody of a grin. She yelped and turned away.

Uma leaned her head on his shoulder, “Save the boogieman routine ‘till after we get the wand.”

Harry pressed his head into the crook of her neck, breathing deeply, “But it’s so fun.”

“Excuse me,” The man’s shrill voice said. “PDA is not permitted in the classrooms. If you cannot control yourselves either step out or I will be forced to change your seats.”

Harry straightened, prepared to reign down hell on this man if he so much as thought of moving him away from Uma. She placed a hand on his leg to stop him.

“Sorry,” She squeezed Harry’s knee. “It won’t happen again.”

“Good.” The man said haughtily. “It better not.”

At this Harry couldn’t hold back, “It’s not like we were necking. Bloody hell, get laid every once in a while, maybe that will loosen the stick up your ass.”

There was a stunned silence. The looks he received were a mixture of disgust and awe.

The man sputtered, hand flying to his chest as if he might have a heart attack. “Young man!” He bellowed, aghast. “That is not how we speak here. I have half a mind to send you to the headmistress so she might teach you some semblance of respect—”

“I respect lots of people.” In reality the only person he respected was Uma, and Gil, when the boy wasn’t being a total idiot. “I just don’t respect you.”

“That is it!” The man’s face turned bright red, a vein in his forehead popping out. “Go to the headmistress’ office! Now!”

There was a loud, annoyed sigh and then Uma slammed her palm on the desk, standing up. “Damn it, Harry.” She clutched her necklace with one hand and Harry with the other. “Gil, grab my arm.” The blonde frowned in confusion but did as instructed.

Uma chanted, “Go back five minutes prior; erase everything that transpired.”

Like the winding of a clock, images flashed before Harry’s eyes as if he were watching them from behind glass. He saw himself enter the classroom, sit down, watched Uma lean her head on his shoulder, him bury his head in her neck.

Then it stopped.

“Excuse me!” The teacher yelled, and Harry’s head pounded with the sense of déjà vu.

“Bloody hell,” He muttered, watching in fascination as Uma slipped her necklace under her shirt and politely apologized to the teacher.

For the second blasted time. Time. She’d reversed time.

Harry had the urge to bow to her in front of everyone, get down on his knees and build an altar in her honour.

He was sure not even Triton could bend time to his will.

Learning from past mistakes, Harry smartly kept his mouth shut when the teacher patronized them.

“What the heck was that?” Gil whisper-shouted as soon as the professor’s attention was off them. “This is so weird! You know that funny feeling you get when you think you already did something?”

“Déjà vu?”

“Yes! That’s exactly what this feels like!”

“Our captain,” Harry turned and bowed his head to Uma, “Reversed time in order to get us out of a tight spot.”

“To get _you_ out of one,” Uma said. “You and Fairy Godmother in the same room together? You’d kill her and get yourself shipped back to the Isle.”

“I love that you know me so well.”

“Yeah, well…” Uma tucked a braid behind her ear and it was then that Harry noticed how pale she’d gotten.

Instantly, he worried. He cupped her face with both hands, “Captain, what’s wrong?”

“First of all, take your hands off my face.” She waited until he complied before continuing, “I just got your ass out of trouble for PDA. I don’t have it in me to do another time-reversal spell.”

That must’ve been it then, the spell had drained her. He immediately felt terrible for forcing her to cast it. “I’m sorry—”

“Stop.” She held up one finger, “Its fine. I just need to do some research before I try anything else. So please,” She fixed him with a look. “Don’t do anything stupid. Or reckless. Or impulsive. Or suicidal. You’ve been warned.”

Harry mimed zipping his lips shut and throwing away the key, “On my best behaviour from now on, captain.”

“Why does that not make me feel any better?” Uma glanced at the new textbooks in front of them. “There’s a textbook for this class? It’s fucking safety rules for the internet. How complicated can it be.”

“This book outlines all the things you should and shouldn’t do online,” Gil went into a long-winded discussion about the first chapter. Harry had no idea when he’d had the time to read it. “Cool, huh?”

“Cool, no.” Harry said.

“We have lunch after this,” Uma ignored the both of them. “That’ll give us an opportunity to scope out the library for later. And for you to swipe a computer.” She aimed that last part at Harry.

“Trust me, I’m counting down the minutes until you give me free reign.”

“You still can’t kill anyone, Harry.”

“But it’s my one true joy in life.” Harry whined, then added. “Well…one of two.”

“What’s the second one?” Gil asked.

“Setting fires.”

“How adorable,” The blonde said.

“You can’t do that either, you’re quota for the day is full.” The teacher glanced in their direction and they all pretended to be jotting down notes.

“Can I at least set him on fire?” Harry demanded.

“After we get the wand, although if he gives me one more crooked look, I might just tell you to do it sooner.” Uma replied.

“Yay.”

Class ended without any work assigned and Harry couldn’t get out the door fast enough.

“Where’re we headed?” Gil fell into step beside Harry, “Which way is the library?”

Harry pulled the spyglass out of his pocket and ducked into an empty staircase. “It’s a building on the other side of the campus.”

“Let’s go,” Uma said.

Luck it seemed, was not on their side, because on their way to the library they ran into the dwarf from yesterday.

 _Dwarf kin_ , Harry heard Gil’s voice correct him in his head.

“Hey guys,” What’s-his-face waved. “How’re you enjoying your classes?”

“Just fine, Debby.” Harry answered, taking a guess.

What’s-his-face frowned, “Its Doug.”

Harry couldn’t care less, “Whatever floats your boat.”

“Our classes are fine,” Uma interjected. “Kinda boring, but its school, so that’s probably to be expected. We gotta go.”

“The cafeteria’s this way,” Dough said when they walked past him. When they continued his frown deepened and he jogged to catch up with them. Pity.

“You’re not going to lunch?”

Harry pondered stuffing Doug in a locker and leaving him there, he looked like he might fit. Uma would probably have an issue with him doing that. Better to keep quiet, he didn’t want her to have to use magic to get his ass out of trouble again.

“Not really hungry,” Uma spoke for the three of them.

Gil’s stomach rumbled and Harry wanted to face-palm.

Doug’s brow furrowed, “His stomach just growled.”

“Indigestion,” Uma replied blankly. “Because he ate so much for breakfast. Bye now.”

“I didn’t see you guys at breakfast—”

They bolted down the corridor and took a few sharp turns so Doug had no chance of following them.

“Can we get no privacy with this lot?” Harry scowled. “Honestly, no one knows how to keep their big noses to themselves.”

“No rest for the wicked,” Uma said. “There’s an exit.”

Gil held the door open for them, the library was the complex just across the courtyard.

“What are the hours?” Uma asked as Gil squinted at the sign on the door. “Open until nine.” He answered.

“Good. We can swing by after our stupid outing with Ben.”

“I can’t believe I’m being forced to spend more time with him then I already have to,” Harry pouted. “It’s unfair.”

“Life ain’t fair,” Uma told him, which was the equivalent of ‘ _stop whining’._

“We’re not really skipping lunch, are we?” Gil piped up, “Because my stomach feels like its shrinking.”

“We stocked up on food this morning, you wanna head back to the room?” Uma suggested, glancing at Harry.

Harry shrugged, he was feeling a little hungry himself. “Why not? Better than standing out here where people may try to _talk_ to us.”

“Gods’ forbid,” Uma led the way back to the dormitories.

On the way there, Harry spotted two girls sitting at a picnic table outside, one of them had a computer peeking out of her bag. “Uma.” Harry nudged her.

Uma followed his gaze and grinned, “Go do your thing.”

Harry winked at her, sweeping over to the girls at the table. “Hello, ladies.” He said seductively, slipping in beside the girl with the bag at her feet. A simple distraction and it’d be easy to grab.

One girl’s eyes stayed glued on his face. Harry played up the charm, kissing both their hands. “Forgive me. I’m doing an assignment for an art class—” He went out on a limb, assuming they had art classes here. When neither girl corrected him he went on. “And I just couldn’t ignore the beauty sitting before me.”

The girl who wasn’t openly gaping at him offered him a shy smile. “Thank you,” She blushed. “Coming from a guy like you, that makes me feel really special.”

 _From a guy like him_. She must’ve meant someone attractive, were the men not good-looking in Auradon? Ben wasn’t hideous. The girls here must’ve been shallower than he’d initially thought, which made him feel even giddier about stealing from them.

“I’m surprised you don’t have more boys saying it, a girl like you should be treated like queen, as lovely as you are.”

She practically melted and her friend almost fell off her chair. Harry leaned in close until her breath tickled his cheek, reaching down, his hand disappeared beneath the picnic table and he snagged the computer. It was lighter than he’d thought it’d be.

“And whose name shall I be whispering to the Gods’ tonight?” Harry asked.

“Ruby,” She said, twirling a lock of her hair. “Rapunzel’s daughter.” That was when Harry noticed her long blonde hair extended all the way across the courtyard.

 _Ah_ , Harry thought distastefully. _The split ends. How unsanitary_.

He stashed the laptop in his jacket and crossed his arms to hide the bulk. “And yours?” He asked her friend, ready to conjure up an excuse for why he suddenly had leave.

“Tina,” She answered belatedly, like she’d forgotten her own name. “Daughter of Tinkerbell.”

Harry’s smile faltered only for a minute. It was impossible they’d noticed.

“Well, I do hope I shall be seeing you again, darling Ruby. Alas, I have to get to class. The teachers don’t care for tardiness.” He didn’t spare another glance in the other one’s direction.

“Bye,” Ruby said, looking like she wanted to jump his bones.

Harry hurried back to Uma, wanting to hit his head in with a pan until he forgot the entire exchange.

“Did you get it?” She asked. He pulled back his jacket wordlessly and she patted him on the cheek. “Great.” Noticing his blank expression, her features tightened. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” He had to get out of here. He had to get out of here _now_. “Let’s go.”

“Hold up,” Uma put a hand on his chest. “Harry.”

He couldn’t meet her eyes, his heart was beating too fast, he couldn’t seem to get enough air in. He wanted to stab something.

A red veil dropped over his vision, he _needed_ to stab something. A person, preferably.

Someone was calling his name, it sounded like it was coming from underwater. He ignored them.

That girl. The daughter of that blasted fairy. She’d make a wonderful sight hung up on his mantle.

 _Pixie dust couldn’t save her_. He’d write it in her blood; _this is what happens when you cross Captain Hook—_

“Harry!” Someone’s lips were on his.

At first he thought it was Gil. It was not Gil.

“Uma?”

“Thank Poseidon,” She mumbled into the kiss. “What the hell was that? You just…” Her eyes were wide and turquoise and brimming with badly concealed concern. “Disappeared. It’s like you were gone. What happened?”

Harry glanced over at the picnic table where the two girls had been, they were gone.

“I don’t know.” Over Uma’s shoulder, Gil was watching the both of them worriedly. His lip was bleeding.

Harry felt his muscles seize, vaguely aware of the chunky rings on his fingers.

Gil’s lip was bleeding. It hadn’t been before. Harry was the only one of them who wore rings and there was no one else in the courtyard.

Oh Gods.

“Harry,” He felt unsteady on his feet and Uma had to hold him up. Gil took a step forward as if to help and Harry took a step backward, dragging Uma with him.

“No.” He held out a hand, “Stay away.”

Gil flinched as if the words physically hurt him, it seemed all Harry was able to do was hurt him.

“Harry,” Uma forced him to look at her. “Calm the fuck down. Tell me what the hell just happened.”

“I don’t know,” It came out a little hysterical. Harry definitely felt that he was justified, look at him, he was a bloody mess. “I don’t know.”

“Dude.” Gil didn’t advance, but the way his fingers twitched as if itching to touch Harry said he wanted to. “Let’s get back to our room.” Gil tilted his head slightly to the right, “People are coming.”

It was true, a group of five boys were coming out of the library.

Harry turned and ran, sprinting for the dormitories.

He glanced over his shoulder to make sure Uma and Gil were following him. He touched his jacket every so often in case the computer fell out. He just wanted to lock himself in the bathroom, turn the shower on to scorching, and scrub at his skin until he felt less disgusting.

Reaching the door, Harry fumbled with the key. He managed to get it open just as Uma and Gil caught up with him. Setting the computer on Gil’s nightstand, he ran his hands through his hair, digging his nails into his skin.

Clearly, they wouldn’t leave him alone to sulk in the bathtub, so he settled for flinging himself on his bed.

There was the sound of the door slamming and then Uma’s voice, “Harry, if you don’t start talking in the next few seconds I swear—”

“I don’t know,” He repeated for what felt like the hundredth damn time, it probably was. Covering his eyes with his hands, he moaned into them. “I don’t _fucking_ know, okay? I just don’t. That’s never happened before and clearly something is wrong with me but I always knew that, I just never thought that I’d be _that_ kind of insane—”

“What kind of insane?” He felt the bed dip and knew Uma had sat down beside him.

“The kind that has episodes and attacks his friends.” He'd just said friends, the f word, he’d officially gone off the deep end of the crazy pool. It was too late for him, no turning back now.

He’d admitted they were friends. Kids from the Isle weren’t supposed to have friends. They felt a lot closer to him than that and he didn’t even want to _begin_ to entertain that notion.

“You didn’t attack me.”

“Not you, but Gil didn’t do that to himself and I doubt one of the trees attacked him.”

“Man, it’s like a shallow cut, don’t even worry about it.”

“Don’t worry about it!” Harry shot up, scrubbing at his eyes furiously. “Don’t worry about it? Too fucking late! I’m supposed to gut the people who lay a hand on you, not be the one to—”

“You’re not,” Gil said, sounding so sure and looking so serene Harry wanted to smack some anger into him. “It wasn’t your fault, and clearly you feel crappy about it. Let’s just forget it.”

“How was it not my fault?” Harry demanded, “I did that to you.”

“You were out of it,” Gil justified, which pissed Harry off even more. Why was Gil making up excuses for him when Harry was clearly off his fucking rocker? “I should’ve given you room to breathe but I didn’t. That was my mistake.”

He couldn’t take it anymore, Harry leapt to his feet and pounded a fist against the wall. “Why?” He whirled around, despite the cut on his lip Gil didn’t look scared at all. Neither did Uma. “Why are you justifying it?”

There was a silence.

“Harry,” Uma snapped. “Sit the fuck down.”

He complied without a word.

“We’re not justifying it, we’re just as lost as you are. Whatever came over you—” Uma exhaled deeply, “It wasn’t good. You reeked of magic.”

Now _that_ he hadn’t expected to hear.

“What?”

Uma hesitated, his captain never hesitated. “You froze and I didn’t know what to do, Gil touched you on the shoulder and you lashed out. You didn’t even mean to hit him, you were trying to get at the girls at the picnic table. They didn’t see you but they could have, which makes this dangerous. Magic was rolling off you in waves, I thought if I distracted you it might…snap you out of it.” She shrugged, “Evidently, it worked.”

“Did anyone see me?”

“No,” Gil said. “We were the only ones out there.”

“Magic?” Harry pressed a hand to his chest, feeling cold all over. “I don’t have magic.”

“It didn’t feel like you were using it, more like…” Uma trailed off, pensive. “More like it was using you.”

Harry did _not_ want to be a vessel or a puppet for whatever freak show magic couldn’t seem to leave him the hell alone. No thanks. He was perfectly happy living his life without that shit.

“How?”

“I don’t know,” Uma said, looking tired and frustrated. Harry hated to see her like that, knew she hated feeling anything resembling helplessness, it made everything worse that he couldn’t take care of the problem, _he_ was the problem.

“Stop doing that,” Uma said, startling him. “You’re gonna tear your hand in half.”

Harry realized he’d been clenching the hook so hard his palm was bleeding. He let his hand fall from his neck. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize, it wasn’t your fault.”

Gil watched the two of them the way someone watched a swordfight, head swivelling back and forth. Harry took in the lost look on his face and thought; ‘ _me too, mate_.’

“You said you wanted to do research.” Harry latched onto the idea, he needed something to do, to focus on. “Instead of tonight can we go now?”

“We have class in,” Uma glanced at the wall clock, Gil got there first. “Ten minutes,” The blonde said.

“We’ll skip.”

“It’s Remedial Goodness, Fairy Godmother’s class. Something tells me we can’t just skip.”

Harry yanked at his hair, “Then we’ll go right after.”

“Ben’s taking us out, remember?” Gil said.

“Stellar way of putting it,” Uma commented idly.

“Not a time for jokes.” Harry punched the wall again, it was doing nothing to relieve the stress. “Tell Ben to reschedule.”

“But he looked really excited,” Gil protested.

“Then tell him to reschedule excitedly.”

“That doesn’t make any sense—”

“We can’t blow off the guy who brought us here, Harry.” Uma cut off their conversation, “Not to mention he’s the soon to be king. Not only can he kick our asses back to the Isle but he’s our ticket to the wand. I feel it. We can’t piss him off.”

“I could punch him in the face and he’d probably thank me!” Harry shouted, “There’s no possible way to piss him off! He’s like Santa Claus on steroids!”

“Who’s Santa Claus?” Gil asked.

“A jolly old perverted man who stalks children and breaks into their homes to eat cookies.” Harry waved off Gil’s scandalized look. “I read about him in a book I found when I was a lad, pretty sure he’s not real.”

“Do you still have the book?”

“Why?” Harry drawled, “You want to read it?”

“Maybe.”

“Hey, dumb and dumber!” Uma snapped her fingers, garnering their attention. “Enough about Santa Claus. Harry, I really wish we didn’t have to wait until tonight, I want answers as badly as you do, but I’m not seeing any other viable options.”

“You don’t understand, I can’t…” _I need to know what’s wrong with me_. What if next time it wasn’t Gil’s lip? What if next time he hit something vital, something that couldn’t be brushed off?

“We’ll figure this out,” Uma stood up and faced him, brushing a hand down his chest. “We always do, okay? You trust me.”

It was not a question.

“More than anyone else in the world.”

“Good.”

She pecked him on the cheek, if he wasn’t so out of it he would have celebrated and shouted the feat from the rooftops. As it was, all he could do was melt against her and try to keep from falling over.

“Eat something,” She said. “You look like you’re going to be sick.”

Gil tossed him an apple, asking him if he wanted anything else. An apple was all he could stomach. Uma didn’t force him to eat more but she kept glancing at him while he ate.

Gil had a sandwich. Uma made herself a salad.

They had enough to last them a while but they would eventually need to restock. Ben was bringing them to Auradon City, this wasn’t the Isle; surely there was a place to purchase food—

The bell rang. It was only the first day and Harry already hated the bloody thing with a passion.

He threw out the apple core, Gil extended his hand to help Harry to his feet; Harry eyed it wearily before grasping it. The blonde smiled and linked both their arms, as if to show there was no harm done. Harry still couldn’t get rid of the knot in his throat no matter how hard he tried.

“Remedial Goodness is literally down the hall from us,” Uma snorted. “What subtly.”

Fairy Godmother was waiting for them when they entered. The benches only came in desks of two, so Harry stuck a chair between the desks and sat in the middle of Uma and Gil.

Fairy Godmother frowned but otherwise kept her opinion to herself. Smart of her. Harry did not like this woman.

“Welcome children,” She made a grant sweeping motion with her hands. “You already know who I am and I already know who you are, so let’s just dive into the lesson today. There are no books required for this class, just participation and active listening!”

He’d rather spend the afternoon with Tic Toc. Not to mention he still didn’t feel one-hundred percent himself after his episode out in the courtyard.

“You find a vial of poison…” She rambled on, Harry slipped the drawing of Uma out of his pocket and went to work finishing it. He was penciling in her shell necklace when someone tapped his arm.

He glanced up, Uma jutted her chin out at the center of the room. Harry expected to see Fairy Godmother staring at him disappointedly, instead, she was talking to a girl.

The girl had brown short cropped hair— _what was it with these people and terrible hair_ , Harry wondered, and a pale blue dress with a bow. She was pretty in a delicate flower type of way, like she’d break if you touched her.

She caught Harry staring and squealed, yup, like a gazelle facing an alligator. Harry loved being the alligator.

“Jane sweetie, say hi to everyone.” Fairy Godmother encouraged, pushing her forward.

“Mom!” Jane hissed, clutching a clipboard to her chest. Out of the corner of his eye Harry saw Uma’s upper lip curl and knew she was thinking up a plan involving this girl. Whatever it was he was onboard.

“Don’t mind me,” Jane did a little bow, “As you were.” She scurried out of the room, Fairy Godmother waving off her behaviour.

“Let’s get back to work,” She said. “You discover a crying baby…”

When it began nearing the end of class, Fairy Godmother wrapped up her lecture on the _miracle of helping_ and handed them brochures. Harry hid the drawing before she could see it.

“Extracurriculars,” She said cheerily. “Every student in Auradon Prep must be in at least one after school activity.”

“Look, cooking!” Gil exclaimed giddily.

“Yes, you can pick that,” Fairy Godmother seemed pleased at his enthusiasm, “Or you can pick a sport, an art class, drama, whatever you wish.”

“Sports?” Harry thumbed through the pamphlet, if they were forcing him to pick an activity it better involve hitting something. “Anything where I get to hit someone?”

Fairy Godmother’s smile dimmed, “Well…Tourney is very hands-on, if that’s what you’re interested in.”

“Then I shall try it.”

“Me too. What?” Gil asked at Harry’s look, “If you’re doing it then I’m doing it.”

“I thought you wanted to cook?”

“I’d rather do something with you.” Harry felt his chest warm at that.

“Tryouts are Thursday at four,” Fairy Godmother said, ruining the moment. “What about you, dear?” She turned to Uma.

His captain shrugged, “I’ll probably go out for swimming.”

“Excellent,” The headmistress beamed, “Tryouts for that are on Friday at four-thirty.”

“Can we leave now?” Harry inquired, unable to stand another minute of this woman’s dreadful cheeriness.

“Yes, class is over.” She walked them to the door, too happy over having successfully gotten them to pick extracurriculars to chastise Harry for being rude. “See you all tomorrow!”

“We have her again tomorrow?” Harry wanted to rip up those blasted schedules. “I may sew her mouth shut before that. Her voice is _grating_.”

“I’ll help you,” Gil said, at the same time Uma asked, “What time is it?”

“Three-thirty-five.”

“We’ve gotta meet Ben,” Uma sighed, grabbing both their hands. “He’s probably waiting for us already.”

Sure enough, the prince was standing patiently in the main hall, wearing an impeccably pressed blue suit that did not look at all comfortable. He looked like a monkey, it was disturbing. Who chose his outfits for him? The maid?

“There you are! I was getting worried.”

“That we wouldn’t show?” Uma smirked lazily, “Just out of luck, I guess.”

“On the contrary,” Ben said. “I’m really happy I get to do this, it’s a great opportunity for me to get to know you better and for you to see that Auradon isn’t all bad.”

“I’ll believe it when it burns.” Harry muttered.

“What?”

“I said I can’t wait, lead the way.”

He swallowed the ball of nerves forming in his chest and squeezed Uma's hand tighter than he should have, wincing when Ben pushed open the double doors. He didn't think he'd ever get used to sunlight.

He was too used to being in darkness.


	9. Auradon City

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The sea three explore Auradon city and Uma considers whether or not to tear down and rebuild it when she takes the throne. Harry discovers his love of sugar, Gil is an adorable puppy, and Uma tries not to worry too much about everything and just enjoy time with her boys. Ben might be low-key obsessed with them but hell if Uma's gonna call him out on it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick apology for not updating in so long, my darlings. Sigh, college is kicking my ass and nervous breakdowns are exhausting. As I type I'm supposed to be doing an assignment, but my priorities are fucked up as heck so I'm gonna procrastinate a little. This is a light-hearted filler chap full of sea three cuteness in order to make up for the shitstorm of heavy angst that was last chapter and the shit ton of angst that's coming next chapter ;) I know, I'm evil, what can I say I love these characters but they're so hot when they're suffering. Please enjoy and I'll try to update more regularly if my annoying af schedule permits. Have a lovely day and feel free to leave a comment! Xoxo <3

* * *

A car was waiting for them outside, not the limo, but still spacious enough for them to stretch out on top of each other.

Harry had his head in Uma’s lap and his legs draped over Gil’s when Ben said, “You guys are really comfortable with one another.”

They froze.

“It’s not a bad thing,” Ben hurried to assure them. “It’s just an observation.”

Uma’s grip tightened where she was stroking his hair. “I’m sure there are tons of things more fascinating to observe than us.”

“If there is I have yet to see them.”

More awkward silence. Ben cleared his throat, sensing he’d put his foot in his mouth. “I should probably just keep quiet until we get there.”

 _The first smart thing to come out of Beastie’s mouth,_ Harry mused.

When they reached their destination Ben exited first and held the door open for them, despite the chauffeur in the front seat.

Harry despised Auradon with every fiber of his being, but even he couldn’t deny the city was breathtaking.

“Wow,” Gil said, summing it up perfectly.

Ben was over the moon at this, “You like it?”

“Yeah!” Gil exclaimed.

“It’s not hideous,” Uma admitted.

“I want to gauge out my eyes,” Harry said, sticking to his principles.

“Well there’s more if you’re not sold yet,” Ben didn’t seem to be offended. “Come check out the booths. There’s free food tasting and dancing. Clothes you can try on, if you want I’ll buy you anything.”

Clothes?

His principles were going out the window. At least for the afternoon.

“Where?” He demanded.

Ben led them to a large open square that looked like a flea-market. “Go nuts,” He smiled.

None of the clothing was to his liking, but he absolutely adored all the high-quality material. Things like silk, sheer, fabrics he’d never seen before. And the leather. Oh, the leather.

“You want it?” Ben asked suddenly, popping out of nowhere. Harry lifted his face from the glorious material, nodding vehemently. “Then it’s yours.”

Ben bought the entire booth’s worth of fabric.

“Whoa,” Uma said quickly, “You don’t have to do that.”

“Consider it a ‘Welcome to Auradon’ gift.” Ben handed the woman at the register a plastic card and she scanned it through a machine.

“What is that?” Gil asked curiously.

“It’s a credit card,” Ben said. “It’s a way to pay for things, except you’re using other peoples’ money and you pay it back later in interest.”

“Sounds complicated.”

“I can help you apply for one, if you want,” Ben grabbed the bags full of fabric and offered them to Harry. Harry glanced at Uma, waiting for her nod before taking them.

“If you like sewing I’ll have a sewing machine moved into your room,” Ben navigated them from booth to booth. “Most of the girls’ dorms have them. Here, hold on a second.” He pulled a phone from his pocket and had a quick conversation with someone.

“One will be there when you get back.” He said, hanging up.

“Why are you doing all this for us?” Uma demanded, hands on her hips. She looked irritated now, suspicious of Beastie’s intentions. No one was that kind without wanting something in return. “If you think this means we’re gonna owe you or something—”

“Gods’ no,” Ben denied, sounding the tiniest bit hurt. “I just want to make sure you have everything you need.”

“We don’t need your seemingly limitless generosity,” Uma spat.

Ben blinked, “I know, but you’re getting it. I’m giving it to you.”

“Why?”

“If I’m ever going to make up for what my father did, locking you up on the Isle for your parents’ crimes, I have to start small. This is ground zero,” He gestured around them. “Even if it takes me the rest of my life, I’ll do right by you all.”

“I don’t get why you care so much.”

Uma’s voice cracked, if Harry weren’t standing so close to her, he wouldn’t have heard it. Ben definitely missed it.

“You’re father certainly didn’t.”

“I’m not my father. He was a great King to the people of Auradon. I hope to be a good one to the people he overlooked.”

“Don’t hold your breath.” Uma threw an arm over Harry’s shoulders under the guise of steadying herself on the sidewalk. Harry knew why she really did it.

“The rest of my life,” Ben repeated; a vow. “As long as it takes. I promise you.”

The atmosphere went quiet. Gil broke the silence by squealing and pointing at a multicolored booth. “What is that?” He asked, jumping like an overexcited puppy.

Ben’s eyes twinkled, “That’s cotton candy. You want some?”

Gil glanced at Uma, waiting for permission. “Go wild,” She told him.

Ben trailed after Gil as the blonde practically skipped over to the booth.

“You’re opinion?” She asked Harry, watching them.

“Still despise him,” Harry peeked inside one of the bags containing the fabric, grinning. “I adore his wallet, though.”

“Not Ben,” Uma huffed. “Auradon City.”

“Oh,” Harry observed the square, the people bustling around. “It’d make a nice playground, let’s not torch it.”

“Is that all you think of it?”

“Yes,” He cocked his head at her. “What do you think?”

She bit her lip.

“Captain?”

“I need to see more of it before making that call,” Uma’s gaze moved heavenwards, as if searching the sky for signs of the future. “I’m still on the fence.”

“Say the word and it’s nothing but rubble.”

“I know.”

“Guys!” Gil came loping back with three puffy clouds on sticks, two pink and one blue. He handed the blue puffy cloud to Harry, plucking off pieces of a pink one and handing the other to Uma. “Cotton candy, try it. The pink’s bubble-gum and the blue’s blueberry.”

Harry shrugged and ripped off a piece, popping it in his mouth. His eyes widened, staring down wondrously at the blue cloud.

“What is this perfection?”

“Cotton candy,” Gil said matter-of-factly. “I just told you.”

“This is perfection.”

“You just said that.” Gil frowned, feeling Harry’s forehead. “Are you coming down with something? You seem out of it.”

“Practically delirious,” Uma chuckled, picking at her own.

“Har har,” Harry broke off another large piece and swallowed it in one bite. “Whoever invented this delightful confection should be praised and given their own star.”

“He certainly makes a lot of money off of it,” Ben said, coming to stand by Gil. He wasn’t eating any cotton candy. “If that counts for anything.”

“He’s been wronged,” Harry clutched the cotton candy to his chest, weary of someone taking it from him. They’d have to kill him and pry it from his cold, dead hands. “Very wronged. I’d stage a revolt if I were him.”

“Trust me, the money he makes is enough to keep him satisfied. He’s very well-off.”

“As he should be,” Harry agreed, unabashedly making love to his cotton candy in the middle of the square. Passersby’s were giving him strange looks, he stuck up a single finger in reply. “This is truly glorious.”

“I’m glad you like it,” Ben’s tone suggested he was overjoyed. “Don’t eat too fast though, cotton candy can get stuck in your throat. You want something to drink it with?”

Harry nodded, figuring if Ben was forcing them to spend time with him, Harry might as well get stuff out of it. What harm could a drink do?

Ben disappeared and returned with three large plastic cups just as Harry and Gil finished their cotton candies, Uma was still picking at hers.

The cups had bright neon straws poking out the top, in them was crushed ice and colored water.

Ben handed a yellow one to Gil, a pink one to Harry and a red one to Uma.

Harry eyed the girly drink, glaring at it. His masculinity feeling slightly called into question.

“What’s wrong?” Ben asked.

“This is pink.” Harry thrust the cup back at Ben, “Get this insult to my manhood out of my sight and bring me something brown.”

“They didn’t have brown,” Ben fiddled with the cup. “Would you like blue or green?”

“Fuck’s sake,” Uma handed Harry her red drink and took the pink one from Ben. “Don’t enable him. Its fine, I’ll have it.” She scoffed, “Insult to your manhood? You like painting peoples’ nails and styling their hair.”

Harry felt the need to defend his feminine side, he wasn’t one of those boys who couldn’t admit he had one. “It’s not my fault I’m a natural with nail polish and curlers. Ask Dizzy.”

“You wear eyeliner and lipstick.”

“The lipstick was only one time,” Harry tilted his head, recalling the memory. “Though that shade did look fabulous on me.”

“Not to mention his obsession with his clothes,” Gil added, eyes sparking with mischief.

“My torrid love affair with my clothing is none of your business.”

“I rest my case,” Uma said.

“Oi,” Harry frowned, bringing the orange straw to his lips. “I came out here to have a good time and honestly I feel so attacked.”

“You came out here because we made you,” Uma offered the last of her cotton candy to Gil, who took it excitedly.

“Same difference,” Harry argued.

“Just drink your manly crap in silence,” Uma ordered.

Harry took a sip, instantly falling in love.

Cotton candy, for all of it marvelous wonders, did not hold a candle to whatever godly concoction this was.

“What are these called?”

“Slushies,” Ben answered. “They’re crushed ice, sugar, water and food coloring. Probably a bunch of other stuff too, but those are the main ingredients.”

“They’re heaven.”

“Better than cotton candy?”

“Yes.”

“I’m happy you’re enjoying it,” The look on Beastie’s face said he meant the sentiment. Harry promptly looked elsewhere.

“You’re not getting yourself one?” Gil asked, face brightened by childlike joy. He was guzzling the slushy down like a dehydrated man after forty days in the desert.

Ben’s smile tightened, he shook his head. “No. I’m on the King approved diet. Coronation’s coming up and I’ve limited the suit options to a couple hundred. I can’t afford to gain or lose so everything I eat is being monitored.”

“Everything?” Uma cocked an eyebrow, “Even the cafeteria food?”

“All specifically designed to keep me fit and in shape—”

“Gods’,” Harry muttered. “That’s depressing.”

“It’s not so bad,” Ben hurried to say. “It’s just that I have to maintain a certain weight and that means excluding things like sugar.”

“What a dreadful way to live,” Harry said, nudging Uma. On the Isle you ate what you could find and didn’t complain, running for your life every day kept you in shape.

But to go to such lengths to look a certain way was baffling to him. Ben wasn’t even remotely overweight, in fact, Harry would say he was too thin. Uma seemed to be thinking along the same lines he was, because she nudged him back.

“That’s stupid as hell,” She made a show of taking a nice, long sip of the slushy. “You guys have all this stuff and you take it for granted. We’d have killed for this on the Isle, we’ve killed for less.”

Ben went deathly white, “You’ve…killed people?”

Uma cut a look at Harry, “No. I’m exaggerating to get my point across.”

Harry wanted to scoff at that, he’s killed plenty of people in his time, he’s damn proud of his achievements. But it seemed it’d been the right thing to say, because some of the color returned to Ben’s face.

“I had no idea resources on the Isle were that…scarce.”

“Scarce?” Uma chuckled darkly, “That’s putting it lightly.”

“They’re practically non-existent, beastie.” Harry swirled the crushed ice around in his drink. “Which you would know, if any of you royals bothered to come out of your high towers every once in a while to mingle with us commoners.”

“I…” Ben’s mouth flopped open and closed like a dead fish. “I didn’t know, if I had I would’ve…”

His fists were clenching and unclenching, Harry observed this curiously, taking note of this information for blackmailing purposes later.

“I don’t know what to say,” Ben said finally.

“How about ‘ _Man did I fuck up_ ’?” Harry suggested.

Uma jabbed him, “Too late to get all teary-eyed and shit about it now,” She quickly re-directed the conversation. “Gil, you wanna check out that crepe booth over there?”

“Crepes?” Gil nearly sprained his neck trying to spot the booth, “Aww, yes! Anything’s gotta be better than what they serve at Frollo’s creperie.”

He yanked Ben after him, not like the prince was resisting. Ben still had a troubled look on his face, but Gil’s excited chattering lifted his frown a little.

Harry shifted the bags from hand to hand, massaging the angry red lines on his palms. The chauffeur who’d been trailing behind them while they’d flitted from booth to booth offered to take them to the car. Harry handed them over wordlessly.

Uma seized the hand closest to her, Harry arched an eyebrow but didn’t comment.

“He’s asking an awful lot about the Isle,” Uma’s nose wrinkled in displeasure. “We’re gonna have to steer clear of the topic. If he tries bringing it up again, do whatever it takes to change the subject.”

“Can I choke him?”

“No.”

“Can I punch him?”

“No.”

“Can I throttle him?”

“That’s the same thing as choking him.”

“You didn’t say no…”

“It was implied.”

“Damn.” Harry muttered, licking his lips. “Those are all my distraction techniques.”

“Guys!” Gil called over, three plastic plates in hand. “You gotta come here and try these crepes! They’re like Frollo’s but they won’t break your teeth!”

“Marvelous,” Uma drawled as they walked over.

The rest of the day went more or less the same. Harry tried a lot of things he’d never known existed, he hated Auradon a little more with each delicacy, and Ben was glued to their side like a barnacle on the hull of a ship.

He bought Gil whatever he wanted to try, looking honest to Gods’ delighted whenever the blond boy smiled. Harry had actually cracked a non-lethal smile at him and Ben had gazed at him with stars in his eyes like he’d hung the moon. Harry couldn’t have that, he had a reputation to uphold.  He’d quickly schooled his features into a permanent scowl that would have made Harriet proud.

When they finally returned to Auradon Prep the sun had set and the halls were empty. Harry already knew that they’d missed supper. The chauffeur who’d driven them helped them out of the car before taking Harry’s bags upstairs, muttering to himself.

“I could ask if there are any cooks left in the kitchen to whip us up something.” Ben glanced at Uma for direction, she shook her head.

“I think we’re going to head up to our room, trying a little bit of everything from all those booths stuffed me.” Harry and Gil nodded their agreement. Harry was so full he feared the buttons on his coat would rip, the thought alone made him feel distressed.

As if on cue, Ben’s stomach rumbled. He hadn’t eaten anything except some cookies as they went from booth to booth.

He seemed sad that their time together was at an end, Harry wanted to tell him to get lost.

He wanted to get to the library as soon as possible, he had an appointment afterward with his new fabric and the sewing machine they’d set up in his room.

“Guess I better get going,” Ben added. “I’ll see you tomorrow. And hey,” His eyes brightened like he’d had an idea. “Swing by the cafeteria before you go to class, I have a surprise for you.”

“Goodie.” Uma said blandly. “C’mon boys.” They crouched on the staircase, waiting for Ben to leave before rushing back down and heading for the exit.

It’d gotten chilly outside, the courtyard dark with only lamps to light the gravel path. The moon was hidden by the clouds.

Like thieves in the night, they stole for the library.


	10. Curses and Magic Management

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The sea three finally get answers, but it's nothing they want to hear. Uma's debating handcuffing her boys to her side while she figures this whole disaster out, Harry's one-hundred percent done with everything and Gil couldn't be more worried. This is not the life they were promised nor the one they want.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ciao my loves! Super sorry for the vanishing act, I've been drowning in assignments and alcohol. And ice cream. Lots of ice cream and coffee. Don't ask, I'm a mess of a human being :) But I'm alive, and I've got another chap for you! This one's pretty short, my apologies darlings, multitasking and I are not bffs. And time management? I don't know her. But this is a plot-heavy chapter so hold onto your rum! I'm kidding, please don't drink rum. Ever. It's disgusting. I have so many regrets. My horrible coping methods aside, enjoy the chapter and please leave a comment if you wish! I live off your feedback, and caffeine, but mostly your feedback <3 Have a wonderful week xoxo!

* * *

The library was warm and quiet. Uma steered them to a table in the middle of two ceiling-high bookshelves. Scanning the vicinity to make sure no one else was there, she began searching for books on magic.

“Are we looking for anything specific?” Harry asked, finding a ladder and bringing it over to reach the higher shelves. “Curses begone? Abracadabra?”

“It’s sad that you think you’re being funny,” Uma said, sifting through hardcovers and coughing when dust exploded from them. “Poseidon, does anyone use this library?”

“Probably just that insufferable bookworm of a queen,” Harry shot a look at Gil. “You’re father dodged a bullet with that one, mate.”

Before Gil had a chance to reply Uma slid a leather-bound book off the shelf and handed it to him to carry. “Make yourself useful,” She ordered, patting his cheek fondly.

Harry’s voice floated down from the top shelf, “What’s that?”

“ _A History of Magic_ ,” Gil read the cover. He flipped to the first page and frowned, scrunching up his nose like he was having difficulty reading the words. “It talks about why magic was outlawed and all that stuff, I think. I don’t know some of these words.”

“Ooh,” Harry said giddily, dropping a book into Uma’s hands. “Check out that one.”

“ _Magic Laws and the Consequences of Breaking Them_.” Uma skimmed the table of contents, “We do plan of breaking a lot of laws.”

“We’ve broken some already,” Harry boasted, sounding proud. “Not enough in my opinion.”

“There’s more to come,” Uma gave the book to Gil to put on the table with the other one. “See if you can find anything on the aftereffects of excessive magic use.”

Thirty minutes later the clouds in the sky shifted, dim moonlight peeking in through the windows. Uma settled with a pile of books at the table and began filtering through them. Gil sat on her right while Harry made himself comfortable sitting on top of the table.

He crossed his legs, making grabby hands at the pile. She rolled her eyes and handed him a book that was covered in a fine layer of dust.

“Magic management,” Gil scratched his chin, confused. Uma glanced at him. “I don’t know what part of this is helpful.”

“Go with your gut,” Uma didn’t feel like explaining.

“It says here that someone who’s never used magic before can experience…uh, what’s that word?”

“Sensory,” Uma read. “Sensory overload.”

“Right. That.”

“What _is_ that?” Harry asked.

“It means it can be overwhelming,” Uma touched the shell around her neck absently, remembering the feelings of extreme nausea and fatigue from earlier. “What else?”

“People who are new to magic shouldn’t do it,” Gil recited. “They need to be taught in a safe space by a mentor or a teacher. Unsupervised magic use is very dangerous and very illegal. You can go to prison for it.”

“Prison?” Magic was a crime here, on the Isle they’d kill for magic. No, they’d do worse. “Like getting sent to the Isle?”

“It doesn’t mention the Isle,” Gil shrugged. “It talks about being tried in a court of law and all this other weird stuff.”

“Weird indeed,” Harry said. “Could you go back to the ‘dangerous’ bit, mate? You skipped over that.”

“Oh. Sorry.” Gil cleared his throat, “It says here it really depends on how much you use it. If you’ve never used magic before it takes at least two weeks to adjust. But it could also depend on the person. It says some people adjust faster.”

“Great.” This wasn’t the good news Uma had wanted to learn by coming here. “So I’m playing the waiting game.”

She flipped through a book on magical recovery and hoped something more promising came up. Two books later something did, _Magic Wielders and their Abilities_ ; she paused and read out loud.

“Depending on the level and competency of the magic wielder, they can perform either beginner spells or intensive spells. Beginner spells are; conjuring small objects, visualisation, projection, making potions, reciting word-spells and healing. Intensive spells are; weather magic, transformations, mind control, shapeshifting, curses and…” She froze at the next two words.

“What?” Harry scooted closer to her, “Don’t leave me in suspense.”

“Time magic.”

There was a pause.

“You reversed time in class earlier.”

“I know. Harry,” Uma lowered the book, meeting his eyes. “I shouldn’t have been able to do that.”

His expression was a mix of extreme worry and extreme adoration. “As badass as that was,” He said. “You looked ill after you’d done it.”

“I know,” She brought the book back up. “I’m gonna have to watch what spells I say.”

“Would it be helpful if we took the books with us?” Gil suggested, motioning to the pile.

It might. She might need to do more research. “Just the one.” She said, “If we take too many someone might notice.”

“Judging by all the dust,” Harry said, “I don’t think anyone will.”

Slowly, they worked their way through the whole stack. Gil yawned and Uma asked Harry for the time. He took out his pocket watch and dangled it in front of her face.

“Nearly two in the morning.” She said. “I’m going to check the shelves one more time to see if we missed anything and then we’ll go.”

She walked along the bookshelves, skimming over titles and dates; the more recent the better. She hadn’t found anything and was heading back to Harry and Gil when a book fell off a shelf and caught her attention.

The loud noise startled her.

“Uma!” Harry’s voice carried, “What happened?”

“Nothing,” She replied, bending to pick it up. “A book fell.” She went to put it back on the shelf when she saw the title and stopped short.

 _Dark Curses_. It was a restricted book, there was a magical lock on it.

“Open,” She muttered, and the lock dissolved. She flipped through the pages, they were yellowed and dog-eared at the corners; there was no date of publication.

The table of contents was two words; _Irreversible Curses_. Uma had no idea what those were, but they sounded sinister and illegal and like they could be useful later. Uma was never one to turn down a possible advantage.

She made her way back to Harry and Gil, “Harry, you’re going to love this.”

Her first mate perked up instantly, “What is it?” Gil, who was curled up into a ball and already half-asleep, rubbed his eyes and dragged his chair closer to join them.

“ _Dark Curses_?” Harry grinned, “Ooh, how ominous.”

“I knew you’d like it.” Uma skimmed the sub-headings, only lingering if a word caught her eye.

“Uma,” Harry pointed at a page, “Read that.”

She frowned and went to tell him that she was the one who gave the orders when she saw how pale he’d gotten. All of the blood had drained from his face.

She hesitated before reading. There was a note jotted down in small black print at the bottom of the page.

“Suffering from intense, violent reactions to high levels of magic is usually due to having been cursed at birth.”

The words didn’t sink in for a good three minutes. Uma admitted she had trouble processing them, her brain working sluggishly slow.

When it clicked, she found herself gripping Harry’s hand bone-crushingly tight.

“At the museum…” She trailed off, biting her lip. “You don’t think…”

“It makes sense.”

“No it doesn’t,” She refused to accept that he was cursed without some form of actual proof. He’d lived on the Isle his whole life, there was no magic on the Isle. It was impossible someone had cursed him. “You were born in a place without magic, Harry. Explain that.”

“What if he wasn’t the one who was cursed?” Gil spoke up for the first time in a while. He’d gone pale too. “Read the note on the next page.”

“Curses can also be passed through bloodlines, specifically—” She felt whatever hope that this had been a mistake wither and die. “From father to son.”

“My father?” Harry squinted at the page, “He never mentioned any curse to me.”

“Maybe he didn’t know,” Gil said. “The Isle doesn’t have magic, the curse wouldn’t work there. Maybe he thought it went away?”

“Or maybe he just didn’t care enough to tell me,” Harry seethed. “Because obviously this is something I could live not knowing about. The bastard—”

“Harry,” Uma squeezed his hand. He calmed down immediately.

“If you _are_ cursed,” The words hurt to say but she managed it, “And it _is_ in here, then that means it’s irreversible.”

“Stuck with it for the rest of my life, then?” Harry’s expression went blank, Uma wanted to find the person who’d written this book and choke them. She wasn’t a believer in ignorance, but she’d rather be cursed herself that see that look on Harry’s face.

“Guess we know now that the reason I’m like this isn’t because I was dropped on my head as a child.”

“Don’t,” Uma said, hating how soft it came out. “Don’t joke like that.”

That was when it hit her.

She flipped furiously through the book, praying that she was wrong and it was something else. Anything would be better than what she was thinking right now.

“Uma?” Harry picked up on her rising panic. “What’s wrong?”

It was on the second to last page. Of course it was. When she saw it Uma wanted to tear the page into pieces and then burn it.

“The amentia curse?” Gil leaned forward, squinting. “What is that?”

Uma could hardly breathe.

“It’s, ah…” She swallowed, “Its Latin. It translates loosely to—” She paused at the description, not wanting to read it but knowing Harry needed to hear it. “The madness curse.”

This time it was Harry’s brain that short-circuited. He stared at the words as if not understanding. “Madness?”

“You’re outbursts, Harry. The bouts of mania, the rage, in the courtyard when you—”

Harry leapt off table and began pacing, mumbling incoherently to himself.

“No, that’s—that’s not insanity. I’m not…”

“You said in our room before,” Uma reminded him. “You said it back on the Isle too. I think deep down you’ve always known, and so have I.”

“But I thought it was run-of-the-mill insanity!” Harry spat, “You know, delusions of grandeur, paranoia, hearing voices—”

“You hear voices?” Gil asked, stunned.

Harry was getting increasingly hysterical, “You don’t?”

“Okay,” Uma stood up, her chair scraping loudly against the wooden floor. “Let’s all just calm the fuck down.”

“I don’t hear them all the time, just—” He gestured vaguely to his head, “When it’s too much and the anger is all I can focus on. I don’t remember much afterward.”

“All those times you conked out in your room,” Gil said, as if just piecing this together now.

“Do you remember what they tell you?” Uma asked, crossing her arms. “The voices.”

“Not good things,” Harry laughed darkly. “Not even close.”

“Harry, I gotta ask, have you ever…” Uma made the motion of slitting her wrist.

He shook his head vehemently, “No. Never. Most days I barely hear them.”

“And on the days that you do?”

“I get this desire to kill people.” He licked his lips, his eyes were bright and dark all at once. “It’s like an itch underneath my skin. Nothing I do makes it go away. Besides murder,” He added, “Except once I start, I can’t stop.”

Uma recalled an incident from last year. “Harry, Anthony Tremaine’s cousins…” She trailed off, remembering the disappearances and the bodies that’d been found near the barges. “The boys who always beat up kids for a cheap laugh and harassed De Vil, was that you?”

He stayed quiet and she got her answer.

“CJ came back to the Jolly with a black eye and a split lip,” He started. “She told me it was them. I’d stopped them from beating De Vil half to death the day before, I was having a bad day, I snapped.” He squeezed the hook at his neck, “Next thing I know I’m waking up covered in blood. Not my own.”

“They were assholes, Harry. They got what they deserved.”

“I know. I don’t regret it,” Harry waved a hand carelessly. “They deserved worse. The fact that I blacked-out was the worrisome bit.”

“Did the blackouts happen often?”

“Just the once.”

“The barrier muted the curse,” Uma said to herself. Gil stuck his head closer to hers to hear, “Huh?” He cupped his ear.

“Please share with the rest of the class,” Harry requested, crossing his arms.

“There was no magic on the Isle, no magic, no curse. The effects were muted, now…” She sighed, all of sudden feeling extremely cold and exhausted. “Now it’s coming out full-force.”

“What does that mean?” Harry asked, gripping a nearby chair, “Am I going to end up like my father? Like De Vil’s mother?”

Uma hated her next three words with a passion, “I don’t know.”

Harry squeezed the back of the chair so tightly his knuckles turned white. “I want to go back to the room.”

“Of course. Gil.” The blonde grabbed the book on magic wielders. Without missing a beat he grabbed the one on curses too, clutching them to his chest. He looked how Uma felt; drained.

Harry caught her hand and didn’t let go until they’d reached the dorms.

Uma fit the key in the lock and turned it as quietly as possible. Gil dropped the books on her bed and headed for the bathroom, shooting glances at Harry over his shoulder. The son of Hook peeled his clothes off and folded them; oblivious to both their stares.

It was warm in the room but not enough to go to sleep nude, so Harry dug up a thick old sweater and loose pants. He noticed the new sewing machine on his desk and gave it a critical once-over, the fifteen bags of fabric Ben had bought today set neatly beside it. When he finished with his inspection he wiped off his eyeliner in the mirror and slipped into bed.

Not his bed. Uma’s.

Aware she’d been observing him for longer than was normal, Uma looked away and changed into a baggy sweatshirt and pants. She pushed herself up on the mattress and kicked the books away so she could lie down.

Harry curled into her side, burying his face in her neck. She wound an arm around his waist and held him there. She wouldn’t be letting go anytime soon.

Gil came out of the bathroom and saw them both on Uma’s bed, he blinked twice and padded across the floor, laying down on Uma’s other side.

“Harry,” Uma muttered into his hair. It was so soft, “We’re gonna have to talk more about this.”

“I know.” His breath tickled her throat, “Just not right now. Please.”

“Whenever you want.”

Uma fell asleep listening to Gil breathe and counting the seconds in between Harry’s heartbeats.

She definitely wasn’t letting go anytime soon.


	11. Day Two and Counting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the huge bomb that was dropped on them, it's becoming abundantly clear that taking over Auradon's not the sea three's biggest challenge. Harry picks too many battles, Uma wishes he'd put some back. She also wishes she could protect him from literally everything ever. Gil wishes he could protect both of them, he's also certain Harry's going to murder Ben in his sleep and mount the prince's head on his wall as a trophy. Overall, it's been a shitty couple of days.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have returned from the void with a new chapter and a basket of metaphorical apology-cupcakes that I'm hoping will save me after I fell into the rabbit hole for like six months. Idk how long it's been, I slept for like forty hours so my internal clock's more screwed up than my desk clock (I need new batteries for it). So, after that long-ass hiatus....HELLO LOVES! I'm so happy to be back not only physically but mentally and emotionally as well, sorry for being MIA but I was dealing with a lot (cheap excuse I kno but it's the truth) but I've got a few chapters lined up and a relatively free schedule, so expect frequent updates! I'd say 'expect regular updates' but knowing my forgetful ass I'm probably going to be all over the place with uploading chapters. I missed you all though and I'm super happy to be writing this story again! DESCENDANTS 3 IS IN THE MAKING, WITH OUR FAVE PIRATES, I'M DECEASED. CAUSE OF DEATH: HAPPINESS OVERLOAD. Who else is as excited for D3 as I am? Hopefully everyone! Sucks that it's another movie about Mal but the sea three are in it so it'll still be awesome solely because of them. Since this note's getting kind of long I'm going to end by saying I love you all very much those who like this story and I promise to not disappear again! Xoxo

* * *

Gil woke up sore and more tired than he’d been when he’d fallen asleep. He stretched out on the mattress, realizing he was the only one on it. He heard the sound of running water and assumed Uma had gone in for a shower. Harry was on the floor wrapped in a bundle of thick blankets, he was sweaty and pale but at least his eyes were closed.

Harry had woken up screaming a total of four times last night. Gil had gotten maybe four hours of sleep and Uma maybe three. Harry probably hadn’t gotten any.

The bed clearly wasn’t working, Gil wondered if they should just strip the beds and turn the floor into a makeshift fort.

Uma exited the bathroom, her braids wet and tied up in a high ponytail. She was dressed in a dark teal jean jacket, a faded aqua blue shirt and a long flowy skirt made out of shiny purple material. Gil stared at her until she called him out on it.

“Get dressed,” She extended a hand and helped him up. His back roared in protest. “Busy day.”

“What’re we doing?” He brushed his teeth and rinsed out his mouth. Uma walked over to where Harry was and bent down, carding her fingers through his hair.

“We have to swing by the cafeteria and meet Ben before class.”

“Oh, right.” Gil pulled on his socks and his boots. “Any idea why?”

“None.”

He glanced at Uma, she was pressing a lingering kiss to Harry’s forehead. Gil sharply jerked his head in the other direction, moments like these were theirs and he shouldn’t be watching. No matter how alone he felt when they did things without him.

He slipped on pants and a yellow and brown patchwork leather jacket. He pinned his hair back with his bandanna. “Should we go just the two of us and let him sleep?”

“If he wakes up and neither of us are here it’ll be murder.” Uma straightened and gave Gil a considering look. “Change of plan, I’m gonna go meet Ben by myself and you’re gonna stay here with him.”

“No problem, captain.” Gil settled down next to Harry on the floor, taking up guard position. He wasn’t as good as Uma at shaking Harry out of a nightmare, but he knew the steps.

Uma’s lips quirked up and she smiled softly at the both of them, or maybe Gil was just more tired than he thought and imagined it.

“Good. I’ll be back soon.”

“Hey, captain?”

She stopped at the door, “Do we still have to go to class today?”

“We’ll see how he’s feeling when he wakes up,” She jutted her chin out at Harry. “If he’s not up to it we’ll stay in.”

“Do you think they’ll be mad?”

“Ben practically worships the ground we walk on,” Uma snorted. “Trust me, if I tell him Harry spent the whole night screaming he’s going to trip over himself trying to come spoon feed him soup or some shit.”

“Harry would probably bite him.”

“He would.” Uma blew them a kiss, “I’ll be back.”

Exactly fifteen seconds after Uma left, Harry started screaming. Maybe not _exactly_ , but Gil was sure a minute hadn’t even passed. He knew the quiet had been too good to last long.

It seemed Gil was lucky, because Harry shook himself out of this one. Gil had just buried his hand in Harry’s hair and started humming when the boy’s eyes flew open; bright blue and unfocused.

“Uma?” He croaked. “Gil?”

“Me.”

Harry let out a deep breath and collapsed onto Gil’s lap. “How long?”

“Since the last one? Maybe an hour? Two at the max.”

“Delightful.” The son of Hook groaned, he must’ve been sore as hell from sleeping all balled up. Gil ran his hands over Harry’s back, massaging his shoulders. “I think I’m dead.”

“You’re not dead.”

“I’m fairly certain I am.”

“That would mean I’m dead too,” Gil said cheerily. “And I’m not, you can hear my heart beating, right?”

Harry made a muffled sound, “Yes.”

“Then I’m not dead and neither are you.”

“…I think I’m dying.”

“You might be,” Gil shrugged, “I don’t have an answer for that.”

“Give me a pirate’s funeral, a beautiful send off in a glass coffin. I want to be immortalized Gil, do you hear me? I want you to bury me at sea and I want Uma to sing about how she loves me eternally—”

“I don’t think she’ll do that, I mean, I could ask but she’d probably smack you.”

“She would,” Harry’s voice quieted with adoration. “My beautiful sea goddess…” Harry went on to ramble about how incredible Uma was. Gil listened and paid avid attention, he thought Uma was incredible too.

It seemed during his speech Harry finally realized Uma wasn’t in the room. “Where is our captain?”

“She went to meet Ben.”

Harry tried struggling to his feet, “I’m going to skin the bastard—”

“Whoa,” Gil latched onto his arm, thankful Harry was still queasy and weak from lack of sleep. “He said to meet him in the cafeteria before class today, remember? You were out of it and Uma didn’t want to leave you alone so she went by herself.”

Harry made a low whining noise, “Fuck Ben. I want her. Gil, go fetch Uma for me.”

“She told me not to leave you alone, and I’m more scared of her than I am of you,” Gil said honestly.

“Screw that. Time for me to smack a prince,” Harry held up a hand, “Gil, help me up.”

Too scared to say no, Gil pulled Harry to his feet.

“Where’s this meet and greet?”

“The cafeteria.”

“Help me there.” Harry slung an arm around Gil’s shoulders and they made their way to the cafeteria.

Harry had kicked off his pants in the middle of the night and his shirt had disappeared somewhere. He was in nothing but his boxers.

Gil only realized this when they were halfway down the hall.

All chatter in the cafeteria stopped when they walked in. Gil swore he heard a pin drop.

Oblivious to the googly-eyes and open-mouthed looks he was receiving, Harry scanned the room for Uma. She and Ben were in the corner near the farthest table, Gil could tell from Uma’s expression that she was trying really hard not to scowl and failing. Ben was…Ben. He looked over the moon.

He made the mistake of touching Uma’s arm.

Harry’s face screamed murder.

Gil yelped and ducked his head as Harry tore away and bulldozed through chairs and people. Gil ran to catch up. The commotion caught Uma’s attention, Ben was too busy staring in fascination at Uma’s hair.

“Harry, what the hell are you doing up? You should be sleeping—” Her eyes landed on his bare chest and moved downwards. “Harry. Where. Are. Your. Clothes?”

Harry seemed to not hear her. He stuck his body between Ben and Uma; a human shield. A clearer, _‘back the fuck off’_ had never been heard.

“Excuse the fuck out of you, Ben! Back the hell up!”

“Harry, oh my Gods’.” Uma face-palmed

“Good morning Harry,” Ben said, all smiles. Gil stared at the boy, how dense could this guy be? And that was coming from _him_. Either Ben was really clueless or really in love with Harry. Gil could relate. “How are you? I was just speaking to Uma about your eating situation—”

“No situation. Goodbye now,” Harry tried to grab Uma and make a quick getaway.

“We decided, together, that a personal chef would prepare your meals for you from now on—”

“We?” Harry wheeled on Ben, raising his hand as if to swipe his hook at him. He frowned when he remembered it was shrunken. “ _We_?”

“Uma and I,” Ben clarified, uncomprehending. “Together. We both decided—”

“Gil.” And that was the moment Gil knew, Ben was going to die. “ _Hold my rum_.” Harry didn’t have any rum, Gil assumed this was a metaphor for _I'm about to beat the shit out of this guy, make sure I look good doing it._ Harry _did_ look good.

Harry sprung forward.

Uma yanked him back like a hyperactive dog on a leash.

“Sorry, he’s ill.” Uma pulled Harry away from Ben by his ear. The son of Hook made angry mewling noises, hissing and clawing at the air where Ben’s head had been.

The prince smiled at all this, unfazed. He even looked the tiniest bit worried.

“Would you like me to stop by your room with medicine or something? I can tell Fairy Godmother not to expect any of you in your classes.”

“No for the medicine, but we’d appreciate you telling her.” Uma wrapped a securing arm around Harry’s neck, he moaned and leaned into her, inhaling deeply.

“Would you also like me to pick up your homework from your classes?”

 _Jeez_ , Gil thought, didn’t Ben have princely duties to attend to? He had too much free time for a guy who was getting crowned king.

“Sure, if you want.” Uma beckoned for Gil to follow her, “See you later, I guess.”

Ben waved. The whole cafeteria watched them go; still silent.

“Gods’ sakes Harry, what the fuck were you thinking?” Uma demanded when they got back to their room.

Harry, clinging to her like she was his lifeline, mumbled incoherently.

“Nice answer.” Uma sat down on her bed, Harry folding into her lap like it was made for him. “Don’t fall asleep on me.”

“I’m not.” Harry kissed her neck feverishly, like he’d been starved of air and Uma was his first fresh breath in days.

Uma seemed startled at the behavior, Harry wasn’t usually this desperate. Gil had never seen him this riled up either.

“Harry,” Uma shifted her head, moving out of his reach. He made a kicked puppy noise and chased after her. She placed a finger on his lips to stop him, he stopped instantly.

Gil got the oddest feeling that he shouldn’t be here. He should go hide in the bathroom and let them have their moment—

“Gil,” Uma said, reading his mind. “Come here.”

He sat on Harry’s left, feeling strangely out of place, a feeling he’d never had around them before. He hated it.

“We really need to talk about…everything,” Uma swallowed thickly, “But only after you get some real sleep.”

“I’d love to,” Harry said. “Where’s the manual?”

“I have an idea,” Uma motioned for Harry to lie down on her bed. “I was too tired last night to think of it, it just came to me this morning.”

She went into the bathroom and returned with a glass of water. “May whoever drinks this fall deep, grant them a dreamless sleep. Allow them these hours of bliss, until I awaken them with a kiss.” The water in the glass glowed turquoise, the color identical to Uma’s eyes.

Gil watched her to see if she had any reaction, she didn’t look dizzy or faint. Harry gripped her hand, seemingly thinking along the same lines as Gil. He searched her face, gaze intense.

“Are you okay?”

“Fine. It was a simple spell; low level.” She didn’t look like she was lying. “Drink this. You won’t have any dreams. When I think you’ve slept long enough I’ll wake you up.”

“With a kiss,” Harry waggled his eyebrows. “How romantic. If you were looking for a reason to kiss me you could have just asked.”

“Drink the damn thing.”

Harry swallowed the cup in one swing. He frowned when nothing happened for several seconds, “Maybe it takes a while to—”

His eyed rolled back in his head and he slumped limply on the mattress.

Gil’s first thought was to panic, he leaned his ear against Harry’s chest. His heartbeat was even and his breathing was steady. Gil let out a relieved sigh, sinking down on the comforter.

Uma did the same, taking the cup away and stroking Harry’s cheek lovingly.

“He’s not okay, is he?”

Uma’s hand faltered, “He never was.”

“But he will be?”

“I don’t know.”

“He has to be,” Gil ran his thumb over Harry’s knuckles, brushing the soft skin. “We all have to be.”

“None of us was ever okay,” Uma laid down beside Harry. “We can’t be something we’ve never known.”

She tucked herself into Harry’s side, their bodies molded to fit together perfectly. “You should get some sleep too.”

Gil leaned back against the pillows, “Are you?”

“Yeah.”

“Then I will too.”

“Good.”

He closed his eyes, “I’d say sweet dreams but I hope I don’t have any.”

There was a silence and Gil thought she’d fallen asleep.

“I hope so too, Gil.”

* * *

 

Harry woke up smiling.

“Am I in Heaven?” He said as Uma’s face came into view, “Because I must be seeing a Goddess.”

“If this is Heaven, it’s grossly overrated.” Uma’s eyes lingered on his lips, she shook her head as is dispelling unwanted thoughts and helped him sit up. The first thing he registered was the lack of a headache and soreness, he shifted on the bed and nothing hurt. Brilliant.

“Feeling better?”

He nodded, touching his bottom lip where he still felt the ghost of her kiss. Gods’ he wished he’d been awake.

“Much better, captain.”

“Good.” She left his side momentarily and returned with clothes. “Put these on. You keep on walking the halls naked and these royals are gonna think you’re an exhibitionist.”

“They wouldn’t be wrong.”

Uma’s gaze hardened, “I don’t like that those princesses were looking at you.”

Harry’s pulse quickened, his lips suddenly dry. He needed her to kiss him again. “I won’t do it again. I swear.”

“Good,” She repeated. “Now that that’s done,” Uma popped open the mini-fridge they’d stolen from the kitchen, pulling out whatever was left. Harry was reminded they’d have to swipe more food today.

“Here. Eat.”

Harry pulled on the shirt she’d given him, taking the food from her. He quirked an eyebrow, “Did you and Gil eat?”

“Yeah, when we woke up about two hours ago.”

“You didn’t wake me immediately?”

“You needed your sleep.”

Uma sat beside him and watched him eat, “I hated seeing you in pain and not being able to help you.”

Harry assumed she was talking about the nightmares. Some nights were worse than others, he was used to it. He’d had darker nights on the Isle. In fact, that was the quietest night he’d had in a while.

“It was a bad night,” Harry offered. “That was it.”

“That wasn’t the first time, they’ve been getting more intense. I’ve never heard you scream so loud, I thought…” She tapered off. “That’s a lot of consecutive bad nights, Harry.”

He said nothing.

“You’ve been having a lot of bad days too, we all have.”

“That’s to be expected, given who we are.”

“Maybe it shouldn’t be,” Uma fingered her necklace. “Why are we such a fucking mess?”

She asked it like it was rhetorical, like she didn’t want an answer. Harry gave her one anyway. He laid his hand on her thigh.

“We wouldn’t be us if we weren’t.”

Harry saw her stiffen, saw her jaw clench and her eyes close; she covered his hand with hers. “Harry—”

The door to their room flew open, “Uma!” Gil yelled from the doorway, “I’m back! Oh, you woke Harry up! Great! Hey Harry, you okay? You look a lot less pale than you did before.”

“I’m fine, Gil,” Harry gritted out, letting his irritation seep into his voice. He probably didn’t come off as annoyed as he wanted, trying to be mad at Gil was like trying to kick a doe-eyed golden retriever. He couldn’t manage it.

The blonde wrapped two strong arms around Harry in a tight hug. “I’m so glad,” He said. “I was super worried about you. Uma said you’d be fine, but you looked really sick and like you were gonna throw-up so I wondered—”

“I said I’m fine,” Harry huffed, but he didn’t pull away. “Where were you?”

“Ooh!” Gil stepped back and held up six plastic bags, grinning proudly. “I come bearing gifts!”

“Sharp objects?” Harry inquired gleefully.

Gil shook his head, “No, better! Food!”

Harry held up the pastry he’d been munching on, “I already have food. What I need are pointy things so I can stab my mattress and release my frustrations.”

“Let’s put that on the to-do list,” Uma said. “What’d you get?”

“The chef was so nice,” Gil opened the bags and emptied them. “She asked me what I liked and I said I didn’t know, so she just gave me this sad face and cooked a little bit of everything she had.”

“And you saw her do it?”

“Yeah.” Gil thrust a plastic container at Harry, “No poison.”

Harry sniffed at the container, “Could be odorless.”

Gil frowned and sniffed it himself, “I didn’t see her spray anything on it.”

The smell wafting out of the container was making his mouth water, Harry decided to risk it. “Give me the food.”

Harry discovered the joy of waffles, pancakes, something called bacon and this sticky substance labelled maple syrup. Gil was delighted when he learned there was more than one way to cook eggs.

They got into a heated debate about which was better; pancakes or waffles. Harry called Gil’s taste buds into question several times, because how _dare_ he suggest pancakes were superior to waffles?

“Waffles are clearly superior,” Harry got the last word. “And you will never convince me otherwise.”

“You two are idiots,” Uma chewed on a strip of bacon. “Gil, what’s in the last two containers?”

Gil cracked open the lids, “Pie and cake.” He checked the notes taped to the underside of the containers written in the chef’s neat cursive. “They’re deserts.”

Harry made grabby motions at the containers, “Give it.”

Pie was the most splendiferous thing he’d ever tasted. All of the other deserts paled in comparison, especially cake.

Which of course meant Gil had to pick it as his favorite.

“I’m not speaking to you for the rest of the week,” Harry said, going for another piece. He licked whipped cream from his fingers, “Can someone pass me the people-opener?”

“You mean the knife?” Uma asked, handing it over.

“Yes, that.”

Once they polished off all of the food Harry finished getting dressed, feeling stuffed and slightly ill.

He had no regrets. It was worth it.

Just as he zipped up his pants there was a knock at the door. “Go away,” He shouted. Uma shushed him and went to open the door.

It was Ben, of course it was.

“Harry,” The prince walked in like he’d been invited, “I’m happy to see you’re looking much better.”

“Give it a minute, the sight of your face will make me throw-up.”

Ben laughed, Harry went to tell him he hadn’t been joking when Uma sent him a warning glare. He pressed his mouth into a thin line.

“You should try out for comedy club,” Ben said. “You’re really funny.”

“A riot,” Harry drawled.

“Anything you need, Ben?” Uma interrupted smoothly.

Ben held up a handful of papers, “You’re homework for your classes. I also wanted to know how it went with the chef.”

“She was nice,” Gil said. Ben’s expression was ecstatic.

“Wonderful,” He turned to Uma. “So our arrangement worked.”

“Seems like it did,” Uma replied, much less enthusiastic.

“I hope you wouldn’t mind if I joined you for lunch some days.”

At this Harry squawked indignantly, did Ben not see that literally _none_ of them wanted him around? If he didn’t Harry was more than willing to point it out.

Uma’s featured tightened, “Sounds great.”

Harry made sure his eye-roll was noticeable and spectacular. “ _Great_.” He whispered mockingly.

“Is there something in your eye, Harry?” Ben inquired, brow pinching.

Harry groaned and threw himself back on the nearest bed, “No, beastie. Nothing to fret about.”

“Are you sure? You seem—”

“He’s fine,” Uma intervened quickly, sounding agitated. “Is that all?” She grabbed the homework from Ben. He shove his hands in his pockets, looking awkward now that he no longer had a reason to be in here.

“Yeah, I guess.”

“Alright then, thanks for stopping by. Bye.”

“Let the door hit you on the way out,” Harry muttered under his breath.

“Great seeing you, Ben! Thanks for the chef, I didn’t know there were so many ways you could cook eggs!”

“Gil, he doesn’t want to hear about that—”

“You’re very welcome. If you want, you can come over to my castle and you and I could spend the whole day going through my mother’s cook book. She has sixteen egg-based recipes.”

“Really? That’d be awesome! Wait, doesn’t you mom hate me?”

“Of course not! She hasn’t even met you, why would she hate you?”

“Cause my dad’s Gaston.”

“That has nothing to do with who you are as a person—”

“Oh, look, a bee.” Uma pointed, waiting for Ben to look before slamming the door shut.

“Insufferable pompous—” Harry started.

“Harry,” Uma hissed. “Wait for him to leave before you badmouth him.”

Harry kept quiet until he heard Ben’s footsteps disappear down the corridor. He picked up where he left off, “Self-entitled, spoiled rotten prince—”

“Are you done?” Uma asked sweetly.

“Yes.”

“Good.” She tossed him a heavy book and Harry barely caught it. He almost dropped it when he saw it was the one from last night.

“Uma…”

“I said we’d talk about it once you’d slept; you slept. Let’s talk about it.”

They all sat in a circle on the floor, Uma with the book on magic and Harry with the book on curses. Gil was reading through the pile of papers Ben had given them, he’d grabbed a pencil from the case on his desk and was filling in the answers.

“Gil,” Uma glanced at him. “Are you actually doing the homework?”

“Yeah,” Gil replied. “It’s super easy. I could do yours too if you want?”

“Knock yourself out,” Uma shrugged. Gil returned to the homework happily, Harry would never fully understand this boy.

“While you were asleep I skimmed through this a little more,” Uma held up the book on magic. “I learned some pretty interesting things.”

“How long was I out for?”

“Eight hours.”

“What about you?”

“Six.”

Harry nudged Gil, “What time is it?” He showed the boy his pocket watch. Gil squinted at the numbers, “Three-forty-five.”

They’d missed the entire school day, not that Harry particularly cared at all. “We skipped all of our classes? The old harpy’s probably pissed.”

“You were more important,” Uma said, but her eyes were on the book in front of her, not Harry. He didn’t have to meet her eyes to know what she was thinking.

He cleared his throat, switching topics for her sake. “So what did you learn?”

“There are a bunch of spells in here I can try out,” Uma said, tapping the hardcover. “Low-level. Simple and easy.”

“Have you tried any?”

“I tried a visualisation spell before, a giant pumpkin sprouted in our bathroom.”

Harry peered at the bathroom, “It’s gone now.”

“I learned the counter-spell too.”

“And you’re sure none of these spells will have any negative effects on you?”

“Since they’re not heavy-duty, no. They shouldn’t have any on you either.”

Harry shivered at the memory of the museum, “That’s good. Mind testing one out now?”

Uma flipped the book open to a specific page, “Bring to me what I seek, I picture a bird with a multicolored beak.”

A rainbow feathered bird materialized in her hands.

Harry stared at it in awe, bowing his head respectfully, filled to the brim with adoration. It seemed she really could do anything.

The bird flew over to him and perked on his leather glove, Harry ran his thumb softly over its florescent beak.

“You truly can accomplish anything,” He murmured in wonder, voice dripping devotion. With a wave of her hand the bird vanished. Harry glanced up at her.

“Wordless magic,” Uma explained. “Basically the same as visualisation. I picture what I want and it happens, like when I conjured food from the Chip Shoppe.”

“Marvelous,” Harry breathed.

“Finished!” Gil exclaimed, ruining the atmosphere. He held up the completed homework triumphantly, “It wasn’t even that hard.”

Neither was Harry, Gil had killed the mood.

“Put that away and check out what other spells are in here,” Uma said, recovering quicker than Harry.

“Ooh!” Gil set the papers on his desk and scooted over to Uma. “What’s that spell do?”

“It changes peoples’ hair.”

“Fascinating,” Harry remarked. “Some of the princesses in this school could sure use it.”

“What about this one?”

“It lets you speak to people who are far away.”

“So, like cellphones?” Gil inquired, confused.

Uma sighed, “It lets you speak to them telepathically, Gil. In their heads. But speaking of technology, since you had such an easy time with our homework, would you mind figuring out how that computer Harry swiped works? I haven’t gotten around to it yet.”

“Sure.” Gil settled with the computer on his lap and started typing away on the keys. Harry wondered how this was the same boy who’d gotten locked in the Chip Shoppe storage room.

“Any other spells you’ve mastered?”

“That’s about it,” Uma closed the book. “I thought I’d memorize the rest of them later. Right now I wanna focus on you.”

“Focus on me then,” Harry spread his arms wide, grin stretching madly. “I’m eagerly awaiting your attention.”

“Get your ass over here, Harry.”

“Ah, you notice my ass, eh?” Harry crawled to her side, arching one eyebrow suggestively. “That makes me feel special.”

“Open the book,” Uma ordered, looking annoyed and fond all at once. Harry had that effect on people.

“See if you can find anything about triggers, I want to know if there’s any warning to these outbursts.”

“If I have any homicidal urges I’ll let you know.”

“Harry, please, that’s all the time,” Uma narrowed her eyes at the tiny print. “Anything about aftereffects would be helpful too.”

“Exhaustion?” Harry remembered feeling bone-tired after the initial rage had passed. “I was delirious, I thought I was dying—”

“That’s true,” Gil confirmed, not glancing up from the screen. “He did.”

“Dissociation,” Uma paled at the word. “Feeling out of touch with reality; detached. Harry…” She bit her lip, one of her nervous tics. “After your outburst, did you…have troubling telling what was real and what wasn’t?”

Harry forced his brain to dredge up the unpleasant memory, “Not particularly, no.”

Some of the color returned to Uma’s face, “Good. Because that’s when we know we’re in trouble.”

She pointed to a paragraph, it was highlighted and underlined in bright pink ink. Harry assumed that meant it was something important.

“When the person who is cursed begins confusing delusion with reality—” Harry almost choked on the next part. “That is when they are truly lost.”

He fiddled with his hook, distracting himself from thoughts he didn’t want to touch with a twenty foot pole. “How cheerful.”

Uma slapped his hand away from his neck, “Don’t freak out, we haven’t reached that level yet and as long as I have air in my lungs we never will.”

“I appreciate the optimism,” Harry said, and she knew how thankful he was for her being there, he didn’t have to say it. “Anything else in that blasted book or can I shred it and toss it in the fire?”

“It doesn’t go into detail. Here it says the curse manifests differently depending on the person,” Uma flipped to the next page. She froze and Harry’s danger meter skyrocketed, usually he searched for danger but recently it’d been finding him.

“Captain?”

“Nothing,” Uma slammed the book shut. “Just more side effects, during these episodes it’s not uncommon to hallucinate—”

“Captain,” Harry searched her expression, hand automatically moving to cup her knee. “What it is?”

She sighed and dropped the act, “It was talking about recorded cases of people cursed with amentia and there’s only one dated; your father.”

Harry didn’t understand the underlying worry in her voice, “So? We already know that, he passed it onto me. But not my sisters, the lucky—”

“No, Harry. It’s the _only_ case ever.”

“You mean to tell me there’s no one in the history of Auradon to have been cursed with it? We Hook men must be really unlucky.”

“Amentia wasn’t invented in Auradon,” Uma hesitated and Harry immediately knew whatever she said next was bad news of the worst kind. “It was created in Neverland.”

Harry’s breath caught in his throat, “What does that mean?” He had a sinking feeling he knew what it meant.

“It means your dad was cursed in Neverland, this is Neverland magic. By Pan or a fairy or—Harry, where are you going?”

But he was already out the door, hands trembling in barely controlled rage and the voices in his head shouting for the blood of that girl from yesterday, the daughter of that blasted Tinkerbell.

The voices were painfully loud, louder than they’d ever been on the Isle, but they were familiar and comforting and Harry realized he’d missed them a little.

Two more voices joined the fray, “Harry!” “Dude, slow down!”

No. No stopping, no distractions. Just glorious murder.

“Gil! Grab his arm, restrain him!”

Someone grabbed him in a vice-like grip and refused to let go. Harry twisted and lashed out violently, trying with a fervor he didn’t completely understand to do as much damage possible.

He couldn’t shake them off, he started screaming and shouting threats, someone would die for this. It burned his insides like scalding liquid, he _needed_ someone to die, needed blood on his hands.

Speaking of hands, someone was cupping his face. Talking to him, panicked and hurried and afraid.

Afraid.

Uma. A feeling of intense wrongness settled in his stomach, Uma should never sound so afraid.

“Hey, are you coming back to me?”

Little by little the fire in his veins dulled, until Harry felt like nothing but a pile of ashes. He tried to answer her but the grip around his chest was crushing, all he could do was nod.

“Gil, loosen up a bit, he can’t breathe.”

Harry drew in a sharp breath, felt his knees buckle and his eyes close. “Harry!” Two pairs of arms held him up, “Crap. Gil, help me get him back to the room.”

They manhandled him into bed, the soft blankets like Heaven under his aching back. _I’m too young for my back to ache_ , Harry thought idly.

Was this how he was going to feel after every outburst? For the rest of his life? Harry didn’t see himself living very long.

Someone was rubbing a wet cloth over his face, Harry knew it was Gil without having to look.

“That’s cold.”

“You look terrible,” Gil said. “Sorry, but you’re going to have to put up with it.”

“Mother-hen,” Harry muttered like it was an insult.

“I’m going to take that as a compliment,” Gil replied. “Stop talking, you can’t even open your eyes. Take a breather. Rest.”

“I just woke up from an eight-hour nap,” Harry tried to force his eyes open, grumbling when he failed. “I’m fine, help me sit up.”

“No way,” Gil protested. “You’re going to lie there and let me take care of you, no complaints, got it?”

Damn it, Harry hated it when Gil got authoritative. It was such a turn-on.

“Got it,” He agreed grudgingly.

“Good. Tilt your chin up if you can.”

Harry complied to the best of his abilities, he’d never thought there’d be a day when it physically hurt to breathe.

Pain flared in his chest, “Abort.”

Gil set the cloth down, “Did that hurt?”

“No, I’m curled into the fetal position because it soothes me.”

“That’s weird,” Harry shivered and Gil threw a blanket over him. The blonde’s voice turned grave, “Harry, this isn’t good.”

“And here I was thinking we should throw a party.”

“Cut the smartass routine,” Uma said harshly. Harry could picture her pacing, “This is serious and you know it.”

“You’re going to wear a hole in the floor, love.” Harry was determined to avoid his problems for as long as he could, it was what Isle kids were best at.

“Screw the floor,” She spat. “Harry, you look like crap.”

“Gil’s already told me that, though in much nicer terms.”

“How long can you go like this? Not long, I bet. We don’t know anything about preventing these outbursts, or if there’s a way to make them manageable—”

Harry snorted, it probably came out more like a dying wheeze. “ _Irreversible_ curse, darling. I don’t think it’s supposed to be manageable.”

“We’re in the land of unicorns and rainbows,” Uma retorted. “I’m sure they’ve come up with a spell to dull the side-effects or something.”

“‘Or something’, most likely,” Harry said. “Magic is outlawed.”

“Medication, then,” Uma suggested, “They’ve got doctors here.”

“I’ll gut myself before I ever ask one of _them_ for help.”

“Well newsflash, Harry, you need help!” Uma snapped, “More than I can give you. These things are happening too often and you look worse after every one! I’m scared out of my mind here, how about working with me instead of against me?”

Harry sucked in a breath. All he could hear were the words _‘I’m scared’_. She was scared for him, not of him.

“I have never been scared of you.”

Crap, he’d spoken out loud. Well.

“And I would never work against you,” He’d sooner succumb to his madness, “I’m sorry if I’m being difficult, captain. I just hate that I don’t know what’s wrong with me—”

“Hey,” Her tone was biting, yet soft at the same time. “Let’s get one thing straight, absolutely none of this is your fault. You do not deserve any of this. There is nothing wrong with you.”

“There’s everything wrong with me,” He laughed humorlessly, “But you knew that since the day we met.”

“No. Not that day.”

Harry craned his neck to look at her, ignoring the sting. Uma looked so much smaller than he remembered, “When?”

She played with the material of her skirt, “You tried to get a crocodile to bite your hand off, Harry. That doesn’t exactly scream ‘mentally stable individual’.”

“I just thought you were eccentric,” Gil spoke up, looking like he thought he might be intruding. “Like, you were a little out there, but I liked it. I never would have thought…”

“That I hear voices?” Harry drawled, “Shocking as it might be, it’s not something I go around telling people.”

“The barrier blocked the spell,” Uma muttered to herself, drawing his attention.

“What was that?” Harry asked.

“No magic, no curse,” Uma dove for the book on the floor, flipping through it furiously. “If I can find a spell that mutes the effects of magic—then it’ll be like on the Isle. You’ll feel it, but it won’t be this bad.”

There was a collective pause. “You really think that’ll work?” Gil inquired.

“It has to,” The desperation in her voice was loud and clear.

“Well, I’ll just lie here until you figure something out,” Harry mustered up the last of his strength and winked at Uma, “You always do.”

Uma knelt by his side, “It might take a while, think you can manage? That means keeping the rage down to a minimum.”

“As long as you’re by my side, I’m sure I’ll be fine.” He reached blindly for her hand and felt ten times better once he found it. Her skin was cool and soft, like the ice to his fire. He didn’t know how he’d ever existed before her.

Gil took his other hand, Harry didn’t know how he’d existed before him either. He needed the both of them more than he needed air.

“Can you do magic like that?” Gil said softly, “I thought anything above beginner level was off-limits.”

“This is a special case.”

“No,” Harry winced, shaking his head. He tightened his hold on her, “You can’t risk hurting yourself for me, I'm not worth—”

“Yes you are,” Uma said, silencing him. He felt her lean up and press a kiss to his forehead. “Getting our hands on the wand is going to have to take a backseat for now.”


	12. A Tale of Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Searching for a solution to a problem that feels like a ticking time bomb, Uma can do nothing but watch the seconds count down and wait for the explosion. Harry tries to distract himself by going overboard with rhinestones and searching for enlightenment. He hasn't found it yet. Gil just wants to eat his danish in peace. Their lives aren't supposed to be this messed up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> MY COMPUTER DIED  
> Guys...my laptop...my best friend in the whole world...died. The hard drive crashed, I couldn't open it, I lost a shit ton of my work and private stuff. It took weeks for them to recover my files, I had to get a whole new ass laptop...I'm just..staring at a bag of cheetos wondering what I did to deserve this. But. I'm alive, I drank a mug of coffee, college hasn't murdered my ass yet, I'm in the process of eating a giant bag of chips. This is a high point.  
> ANYWAY,, Hello my darlings, I hope you're all doing well and I'm SUPER sorry about everything. Just everything. Like. My life is a mess, it's in ruins. I'm the most chaotic evil person I know right now. I apologize. I'm being super dramatic and I apologize for that too, but I feel like it's better than eating ice cream and crying so I'm gonna be the most dramatic piece of shit ever and that's how I'll cope.
> 
> I hope you enjoy this chapter, I have to rewrite a lot of things because some of my files that I recovered got corrupted, but the majority of them are good so,,praise dell backup and recovery. Happy reading! I'm doing okay-ish and I think all my bad luck is used up so...nothing else tragic should...happen...I hope...  
> Xoxo - She's back<3

* * *

 

Uma researched the hell out of everything she could get her hands on for the next two days.

The library became both the bane of existence and her safe place. She found a small dark alcove hidden behind two bookshelves and spent most of her time there. No one saw her and no one bothered her, which was good, because her frustration level was so high she imagined she’d punch the first person to come near her.

Ironically, while she was biting her nails until they bled and resisting the urge to fight everyone she passed in the halls, Harry was having no problem keeping his inner rage monster locked up.

Probably because none of them went to class, not having to interact with anybody was Harry’s version of heaven. Gil only left the room when Uma was out and they needed food, otherwise he and Harry were practically attached at the hip.

Ben stopped by and dropped off their homework every day at precisely the exact same time, ten minutes after classes finished. Uma didn’t know if he ran straight to their room or if it was on the way to his own. He did this religiously, she didn’t even _ask_ him to and he still did it.

Gil completed their homework like clockwork, worksheets, readings, he even did the online assignments. He’d become best friends with that computer since Harry had stolen it, Uma still had trouble figuring out how the shift key worked.

She didn’t begrudge Gil his fun, between chatting Harry’s ear off and typing whatever the fuck he typed on that thing, there wasn’t much else to do. Cabin fever had quickly set in for Harry. Uma saw it in his eyes, he was going crazy with nothing but those four walls.

She knew the only reason he hadn’t snapped and killed someone yet was because she’d asked him not to. It amazed her sometimes, how he’d do anything she asked. She had half a mind to ask him to sit still for four hours straight and test the theory.

She didn’t because half of her already knew what the outcome would be, and the other half wanted to ignore it and go on living in wilful denial.

Harry hadn’t left the room in two days, hadn’t so much as mentioned wanting to leave it. It kind of freaked her out that she had so much control over him, every once in a while she forgot how far he was willing to go for her.

Returning from the library Wednesday night, seeing him sitting in front of that sewing machine he was so fond of, she was reminded of that. She was also reminded of how far she was willing to go for him.

“You’re back,” Harry held up the jacket he was working on, “Like it?”

It was incredible, just like the other three new jackets he’d made for her. At this rate, they were going to need another dorm just for closet space. Hers was close to full and Gil’s was getting there. Harry’s had already overflown and his closet door wouldn’t close anymore. He’d been bitching about needing more hangars.

“Can’t you just use the drawers?” She’d asked him while he’d been whining.

He’d looked aghast, “Drawers? Everything’s going to get wrinkled! I’m not a caveman! Are you implying that I’m a caveman?”

The next day she’d asked Ben to bring them some hangars. He hadn’t even batted an eye, just looked happy she was speaking to him.

“It’s fabulous,” She said, and he grinned. Her heart did a few flips in her chest, all this time caged up and he still managed to muster up a smile.

 _For you_ , her brain supplied helpfully. _He does it for you._

She’d been afraid for a bit that he might end up resenting her for basically locking him up like a princess in a tower, but he didn’t. He was plenty miserable, but his bad mood seemed to vanish whenever she was around. Or Gil. Then again, who could stay in a bad mood when Gil was around? The blond was sunshine personified.

“Rhinestones or no?” He asked her, examining the jacket critically. “I say yes, but I’ve been told I’m a bit extra.”

“A bit?” She snorted, “I say hell yeah.”

He perked up, “Really?”

“Sometimes being extra is good,” She shrugged, “Or all the time, in your case.”

“My captain flatters me,” Harry winked, opening a drawer and pulling out a jar of rhinestones. “Did the universe finally reveal its secrets to you?”

That was his way of asking if she’d found a spell to mute the effects of magic. “No.” She hadn’t found any new information on the curse either. It had been a particularly shitty day, and that was saying something considering how high their bar was for shitty days.

“Well, that’s unfortunate.” Harry glossed over the admission, “Gil went out for food twenty minutes ago.” He added, switching topics like they were talking about the weather instead of something super important. “He probably got held up by prince barf.”

“Ben,” Uma sighed, grateful that he wasn’t dwelling on her consecutive failures. That he wasn’t letting _her_ dwell on it. Cooped up for two days, hearing voices, biting down homicidal urges, fighting back rage-induced psychotic episodes and he was _still_ thinking about her.

“His name’s Ben, not barf.”

“Looks like barf to me,” Harry said, waggling his eyebrows and looking so ridiculous that Uma had to laugh. He was such a dork. An admittedly hot dork, but a dork all the same.

“She smiles,” Harry said, sounding awed. “My life mission is complete.”

“Fucking dramatic,” Uma rolled her eyes, still laughing. “I’m going to wait for Gil to get back before heading out again.”

“Do you have to? You’ve spent too much time in that stuffy library. If the book Gods wanted you to achieve a higher state of being or reach enlightenment or whatever, you would’ve found answers by now.”

“Book Gods?” Honest to Triton, she really had to get him out of this room. She walked over to the window and cracked it open, “You need fresh air, you’re starting to sound like Gil.”

Harry’s eyes widened at the realization, “Oh Gods’, put me out of my misery.” He muttered to himself, “Maybe I’ve achieved a higher state of being…”

Uma scoffed, “Sure. Welcome to enlightenment, Harry.”

Harry flopped back on his chair and spun around, “The book Gods have graced me with their mystical gifts.”

“Can you ask them to pick up the phone next time I call? I think they’ve got me blocked.”

They both started laughing.

Gil picked that moment to poke his head through the door, a cheese Danish in his mouth. “What’re we laughing about?”

“Harry’s been enlightened,” Uma said, at the same time Harry said, “I’ve been enlightened.”

Gil sputtered, “By who?”

“The book Gods.”

“…Can they do the same to me? I could use some enlightening.”

“Couldn’t we all,” Uma said, plopping down on Harry’s bed. “What’s on the menu tonight?”

“Soup, chicken-noodle.”

The cover story they’d told Ben had been that Harry had gotten sick and passed the infection to them. Uma assumed Ben had gone spreading the story around, since the cook who made their food had been giving them soup since then. Maybe that was why Fairy Godmother hadn’t come knocking yet.

“Something called pecan pie for desert, and Danishes.” Gil sat next to her and Harry abandoned his sewing machine to join them. Being cooped up had done absolutely nothing to his appetite.

“Dibs on the cinnamon,” Harry immediately said.

Uma popped open a container of soup, “I had an idea while I was at the library earlier.”

“We change our names and run away to Arendelle?” Harry said. Uma stared at him, “Why Arendelle?”

“I’ve always wanted to see real snow,” Harry shrugged. “It’s as good a place as any to run away to.”

“Maybe one day,” If things were different, she might’ve been tempted to throw all common sense out the window and say _Pack your shit, we’re going to Arendelle._ But life didn’t work like that, and one of them had to be sensible.

“I was thinking we could set up a camera outside our room,” Harry stopped with a Danish halfway to his mouth. “What?”

“Gil’s getting pretty good with that computer, and I know the school has a robotics lab where we could get parts.” She’d overheard it from Doug, yesterday when he’d flagged her down in the hallway and insisted on walking her back to the library because it’d been dark outside. Like she couldn’t take care of herself, she could beat _him_ up if she wanted to.

These Auradon boys didn’t seem to catch on that the only chivalry she wanted was Harry’s brand.

“A computer has a mini camera in it, I figured it was the same concept.” She shrugged, glancing over at Gil. “Think you can do it?”

Gil nodded, apparently eager to be of use. “Totally. Might take me a while though.”

“Take your time, I just thought it’d be helpful if we knew who was knocking on our door before we let them in.”

“Can’t we just make a keep-out sign?” Harry asked

“Fairy Godmother would probably get on our case if we did that,” Uma said. “Speaking of annoying teachers, we have to go to class tomorrow. Like actually _attend_ class.”

Harry nearly choked on his Danish, “Fuck.”

“You said it,” Uma said, at the same time Gil said, “Why?”

“Tomorrow’s Thursday,” Uma explained, “You have Tourney try-outs, remember? You can’t skip it.”

Harry groaned and flopped backwards, all melodramatic and shit. Uma rolled her eyes, “Trust me, I’m not any happier than you are.”

“What if I fell out a window?” Harry threw a glance at the window, as if considering it. “Would I have to go then?”

“You’d seriously maim yourself just to get out of try-outs?” Uma didn’t know whether to laugh or suggest Harry seek immediate therapy. He really needed it.

“Yes,” He said, expression grave. Uma resisted the urge to roll her eyes again, at this rate they’d end up getting stuck like that.

“Buck up,” She told him. “Gil will be with you. You’ll suffer together.”

Gil smiled at Harry, “Pound it,” He said, sticking out his fist. “To suffering together?”

Harry shot him an unimpressed look. Uma thought he’d actually make a try for the window, he kept glancing at it out of the corner of his eye, as if debating. At the last minute he sighed and met Gil’s fist.

“To suffering together,” He said dryly.

“Now eat your Danish in silence,” Uma said.

Harry stuffed the rest of the Danish whole in his mouth.

“I’ll get started on the camera tomorrow,” Gil uncapped a bottle of water and held it out to Harry, “After try-outs.”

Harry took the bottle wordlessly, cheeks puffed up like an angry squirrel. He swallowed, “Any other ideas strike you today?”

Uma wished an idea had hit her in the face, sadly, she’d come up just as empty as yesterday. They needed a _solution_ , but all they were getting were dead-ends.

“I had the idea of stringing the librarian up from the flag pole,” Uma huffed. “But I don’t think that’s what you meant.”

“So what are we gonna do tomorrow? Cross our fingers and pray nothing sets him off?” Gil inquired.

Uma shrugged, feeling utterly helpless and absolutely despising it. In that moment, there was no one she hated more than herself. She was drowning and she was letting her failure pull Harry down too.

How did he not blame her? How could he just sit there and still see her as his captain? How had she earned someone so loyal?

She didn’t deserve him.

“I guess, I…don’t know. I don’t know anything.”

There was a silence at the admission, had they ever seen her so weak? Had she ever _let_ them?

There was a press of lips against her temple and Uma realized belatedly that Harry was kissing her.

“All of our classes are together,” He mumbled into her skin. “As long as you’re both with me I’m sure you can keep me in line.”

“Yeah, and what about Friday?” Uma didn’t move, she had the oddest feeling that if she did he’d pull away. “You have literature Friday. You’re alone, I can’t keep you in line from across the school.”

Harry groaned and leaned his head on top of hers, arms coming up to wrap around her loosely. Uma settled into his chest, as comfortable and familiar as her throne back at the Chip Shoppe.

“We’ll figure something out,” Gil said, rubbing her leg absently, like he didn’t realize he was doing it. “Worst case scenario, he skips the class.”

When had he gotten so smart? When had she started _noticing_?

“Okay,” There was a lump in her throat, her heart was beating too fast. “In the meanwhile, I’ll keep looking. I promise I won’t stop ‘till I’ve found something.”

“I know you won’t,” Harry said, and she felt every rise and fall of his chest, every movement.

There was a knock at the door. “Gil,” Uma motioned for him to get it. She went through a mental checklist of everyone it could be, Ben had already been by and Gil had gone to get their food. Doug, maybe?

Whoever it was, Uma wanted them gone. This day could not get any shittier and all she wanted was to curl up with her boys and catch up on some sleep.

It was Fairy Godmother.

When was Uma going to learn not to tempt fate?

The day had just gotten shittier. Fuck.

Uma muttered angrily under her breath, plastering a big, fake smile on her face to match the one Fairy Godmother was sporting.

“Hello children,” She said, stepping inside uninvited.

This was why they needed a camera outside their room.

“Hi,” Uma said, wondering if she should make Harry let go of her since FG seemed to be strongly against any boy\girl interaction.

Sure enough, the woman eyed her and Harry distastefully. Two minutes hadn’t even passed and she was already judging them.

“Harry, off,” Uma told him.

Harry made a very loud, displeased noise. He shot daggers at Fairy Godmother when she wasn’t looking, shifting far enough away that they weren’t cuddling, but his hand was still on her knee.

FG’s gaze zeroed in on his hand. She pointedly cleared her throat.

 _What the fuck_ , Uma thought furiously.

Done with the woman’s bullshit and just wanting her to get out, Uma laid her hand possessively on Harry’s thigh. She figured FG would leave if they made her uncomfortable enough.

The woman made a face like she’d bitten into a lemon, but didn’t comment further. Uma sighed disappointedly, would she have to climb Harry like a tree or something to get her to leave? Or would a heated make-out session just earn them detention?

FG probably wouldn’t get the hint even if Uma made a sign that said ‘get out’. These Auradon types were dense as fuck.

“I thought we might have a little chat.”

Uma abandoned all hope of the woman ever leaving. _Goodbye, peaceful evening._ She thought to herself. _Hello, migraine my old friend._

“Prince Ben informed me of your situation, and it reminded me that we neglected to have you tested when you first arrived here. That was very foolish of us, and I apologize—”

“Test us for what?” Uma asked, interest peaked.

“Allergies, standard medical procedure. It has been brought to several of the staff’s attention that the Isle of the Lost had…” The woman rubbed both hands together, looking embarrassed and the slightest bit ashamed. “Less than satisfactory medical aid.”

Uma couldn’t bite back the bitter laugh that escaped her, “That’s a nice way of putting it. How about you say it like it _really_ is, the Isle had no medical aid whatsoever. The kids who got sick either fought it off or died, point blank. Don’t sugar-coat it to make yourself feel better.”

FG’s mouth flapped open and closed like a dead fish, and Uma realized that she had just taken a huge risk, riskier than initiating a make-out session with Harry. She’d let herself get riled up, instead of following her own plan of flying under the radar and tricking these people into thinking she was changing for the better, she’d allowed her resentment to show. Resentment built from years of pain and starvation and suffering, she’d let it _out_.

It was time for some serious backpedaling. Uma hurried to salvage what she could, “Sorry,” She said quickly. “I shouldn’t have snapped like that—”

Oh Gods’, were those tears in FG’s eyes? Had Uma made the woman cry?

“Don’t apologize dear,” The headmistress’ voice shook. “It’s me who should be apologizing, in all the years since I created the barrier I never thought—” She pulled a handkerchief out of a dress pocket, drying her eyes.

The mood of the room had taken a swan-dive and dropped below ‘uncomfortable as hell’ and straight into ‘willing to maim myself to get out of this situation’ territory.

“I never thought about the absence of supplies. I should have _known_.” The woman sounded so dejected and pitiful, if Uma had been a nicer person, she would’ve felt sorry for her.

Suddenly, Fairy Godmother’s expression went steely. “I can’t change the mistakes I’ve made, but I can rectify them now. Come with me.”

The woman exited the room in a swirl of her dress, leaving the door hanging open. Gil’s neck did a complete 180° spin as he stared bug-eyed at the spot where FG had been standing, then at where Harry and Uma were still tangled together on the bed.

“Uh…?” Gil summed up the situation perfectly.

“What the fuck just happened?” Harry said.

“No clue,” Uma grabbed his hand, holding her other one out for Gil. “But she did say to follow her.”

Gil latched onto her hand like he was afraid of getting lost, or maybe just scared of the situation in general. Uma could relate.

“Should we leave a trail of breadcrumbs?” Harry suggested, and Uma couldn’t tell if he was joking or not. “Y’know, in case this is a trap and she tries to eat us.”

Gil yelped, “Not funny.”

Harry locked the door, glancing over his shoulder like he expected the shadows to jump out at him. “I hate this school.”

Fairy Godmother was waiting for them at the end of the hallway, gesturing enthusiastically with both hands.

“Me too,” Uma muttered.

At first, she thought FG was leading them to her office, but when they took the staircase that led to the courtyard, Uma realized they were leaving school grounds. FG whipped a cell phone out of her dress pocket and spoke to someone on the other end, twenty minutes of uncomfortable silence later, a sleek silver car pulled up.

“No pumpkin carriage?” Gil asked, sounding slightly disappointed.

FG half-smiled and held the car door open for them, “It’s much too impractical, dear. We were wasting too many pumpkins.”

The drive lasted a torturous thirty minutes, from her seat in the middle of Harry and Gil, Uma kept her eyes glued to the car clock. Gil stared out the window in wonderment, Harry played with a lock of her hair. She’d taken a shower that morning and left it unbraided, he seemed to like it like this.

Uma didn’t really have a destination pictured when FG kidnapped them and forced them into the car, she figured the worst that could be happening was they were going back to the Isle. Except FG didn’t seem angry, and none of them had one anything that warranted getting sent back.

But if not the Isle, where were they going?

When the car pulled up a driveway and into a large parking lot, Uma climbed over Harry’s lap to get a view of their destination. The window was foggy but she could faintly make out the shape of a huge building.

She rolled down the window and felt the chilly air hit her face, the night blanketed the car, lit up only by the headlights. The driver parked and FG got out of the car. Uma shoved at Harry’s shoulder to get him moving.

FG told the driver she’d call him when they were finished, and Uma barely held back from saying, _“Finished what?”_

“Follow me, don’t get lost. The Auradon Memorial is the biggest hospital in the land. It’s easy to take a wrong turn and wind up on a completely different floor.”

Hospital….?

“What are we here for?” Uma couldn’t keep the edge of fear out of her voice. She didn’t like the smell of the place when they entered, it smelled too strongly of chemicals and alcohol, the kind you used to clean wounds, not drink.

“The medical tests I mentioned to you, I thought it best to get them out of the way now. Harry getting sick showed us that we didn’t really cover all of our bases when the three of you arrived. We know absolutely nothing about your medical histories, what foods you can’t eat, what ailments you may have. It was incredibly irresponsible of us.”

A woman greeted FG and motioned the four of them to follow her, they were brought to another wretched-smelling room, but this one had expensive looking equipment and…  

Needles.

Uma froze, and glanced at Harry.

“You can’t stick us with needles,” She said, before she realized she'd spoken.

FG frowned, “Blood tests are standard, don’t worry, you’ll barely feel a pinch.”

Harry was already staring at the sharp metallic end of the needle, Uma knew what would happen if they went at him with that.

It would wind up in someone’s neck.

“Is it too late to jump out the window?” Harry muttered. Uma just squeezed his hand.

They were so screwed.


End file.
